Figures released by the London mayor’s office have revealed that the number of families recorded as homeless increased by more than 18,000 between December 2000 and December last year. This is a rise of 37%. Havering on the eastern edge of London saw the sharpest rise with an increase of 450% from 147 families in 2000 to 809 last year. Adam Sampson, director of homelessness charity Shelter, said: “The growth in homelessness in London is a direct consequence of the failure to invest properly in housing. Bringing empty homes back into use is a perfectly laudable policy but only a partial solution: nothing short of a huge increase in the number of social houses for rent will solve London’s appalling homelessness problem.”