Westminster is the rough sleeping capital of England, according to new “devastating” snapshot estimates - while rates in London have also increased by 16 per cent in a year.
Westminster had the highest number of people sleeping on the streets on a single night in August of any council area in the country, at 388 people - an increase of 40 per cent on the previous year.
Camden had the second highest number, at 132 rough sleepers, followed by the City of London at 86.
London as a whole had 1,138 people sleeping rough on a single night, an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year.
Nationally, there were 4,667 people sleeping on the streets on a single night - a 20 per cent increase in a year - which campaigners have branded “devastating and shameful".
While the latest figure remains just below the peak in 2017- when it stood at 4,751 - it is the third year in a row the number has risen.
The latest figures came as separate data showed a record high for both households and children in temporary accommodation - a form of homelessness.
Earlier this week the Government announced it was doubling emergency homelessness funding for councils in England to £60 million, but the national membership body for frontline homelessness charities urged a "wholesale review and reset of homelessness funding".
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said: "It is beyond devastating and shameful that our society has allowed thousands upon thousands of people to face the trauma of sleeping rough across this country."
The organisation blamed "a welfare system unfit for purpose, an acute shortage of truly affordable housing, extremely over-stretched homelessness, health and social care services and a disconnect between government policies - from hospitals and prisons discharging people onto the streets to people leaving the asylum system with nowhere to live".
Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord John Bird said the latest rise is "simply unacceptable" and described rough sleeping as "our nation's biggest source of shame".
He said while higher spend on emergency funding is welcome "it must not be mistaken for a solution to this crisis", adding that "clever thinking, long-term investment, and collaboration on a huge scale" are needed.
Separate figures published on Thursday showed the number of children in temporary accommodation hit a record high of 164,040 as of the end of September.
The number has risen 15% in a year and is the highest since records for this measure began in 2004.
The figures came as the Local Government Association (LGA) said funding changes mean councils have up to £76 million less to spend on temporary accommodation for households facing homelessness compared with last year.
It said while it is "right that the Government has increased its focus on prevention and relief of homelessness", what it described as a "sudden shift in funding allocation" has increased the financial pressure faced by councils at a time when costs of temporary accommodation are soaring.
Adam Hug, LGA housing spokesman, said: "An uprating of the temporary accommodation subsidy is desperately needed to address the significant and growing cost pressures faced by councils."
