Charities across the country highlight the rising demand for emergency accommodation as costs spiral to care for those most in need.

Holly Udobang is packing the last bag: a sleeping mat, gloves, woolly hat, waterproof poncho, hand warmers. It’s the sort of kit that teenagers might need for a Duke of Edinburgh trip.

But this bag is for young homeless people, to give them a fighting chance of getting some sleep on the streets of London. Holly and her colleagues at the New Horizon Youth Centre are packing them to give to the young people they now have to turn away every day, as an increasing number of emergency shelters shut their doors.

“Things are going backwards,” says Phil Kerry, New Horizon’s chief executive. “People come to the centre and we’re not able to help them that day and they’re going out on to the streets. That’s a daily reality. There are simply not enough places for people to go, even in the winter.”