‘More than 28,000 people in the UK were recorded sleeping rough in 12 months, research by the BBC has suggested.
In England five times as many rough sleepers were seen by councils in the year than reported in official figures, which are a one-night snapshot.
Homelessness charity Crisis said the snapshot could not “hope to accurately reflect the real scale” of the problem.
The government said it was providing £500m this year to homelessness and rough sleeping services.
New official figures will be released on Thursday but the data for 2018 showed 4,677 people slept rough in England on the one night the snapshot survey was taken, down 2% on the year before but 165% up on 2010.
However council responses to the BBC showed nearly 25,000 people were recorded sleeping rough at least once in England during the latest year on record.
The BBC asked councils for the number of individuals amid concerns raised last year that the official one-night snapshot did not give the full picture.’
Read more: Homelessness: Councils record 28,000 on the streets over a year
