It was announced yesterday, 7 November, that Kingston Council will receive £156,000 of government funding to help tackle homelessness in the borough.

The money is from a £10m national emergency fund which the government says will protect rough sleepers by paying for access to a safe and warm bed.

The funding, aimed to prevent winter deaths, has been split across five areas in London.

The north-central region, including Westminster, which has the highest number of rough sleepers, will receive nearly £1m.

However, Kingston will receive the least amount of funding, despite over a third of the local homeless population being housed outside the borough.

In a Kingston Council's health overview panel on 23 October, it was revealed that 33% of temporary accommodation used to house Kingston's homeless is outside of the borough.

The council ascribed this shortfall to a shortage of properties and rising costs in the area.

At the review, the assistant director for housing in Kingston, Wale Adetoro, said: "The main cause is the affordability of homes and landlords giving notices to their tenants to move out so they can rent those properties out for higher rents.

 "The supply of these properties offered by specialist housing providers in London has reduced over the past year and a half, resulting in our need to access hotel accommodation."