Rough sleeping has risen by 50% over the past two years, and leading charities have warned the crisis is set to get worse.
With thousands of people expected to spend this Christmas on the streets, it can be easy to despair at the increasingly common sight of sleeping bags outside shops, stations and office doorways.
But there are things you can do to help.
A new website and app has been launched to harness the goodwill of the British public, allowing passers-by to connect homeless people with local outreach teams ready to offer support.
StreetLink has redeveloped its technology to make it quicker and easier than ever to alert local services to someone found sleeping rough across England and Wales.
Users of the new app will be able drop a pin in a map to show the exact location of the person they have seen. The selected address will appear and they will be asked to add a short description of the location, helping make sure outreach workers can find the person.