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More than 50 rough sleepers will lose their beds in central London when two hostels shut after their grants were cut by Westminster council.

Despite figures showing homelessness in London is rising, Conservative-run Westminster said not enough people were using the hostels and the buildings were in a poor condition.

The hostels are near to Crossrail tunnelling works, but the council said this had nothing to do with the decision to “decommission” them.

One of the buildings, in Great Chapel Street, is run by One Housing Group and the other, in Greek Street, is operated by Centrepoint.

Westminster refused to reveal how much the grants were worth.

The council said people will be moved locally and helped by organisations that can better manage their needs, including mental health and addiction problems.

But Alison Gelder, chief executive of Christian homelessness charity Housing Justice, said services for the homeless in the West End were already stretched to “full capacity”.

She said: “There is a huge shortage of accommodation for homeless people in Westminster and nationwide.”

According to a government count last summer, 140 people were sleeping rough in the borough, the highest amount in England.

The number of homeless people across London has risen eight per cent since Christmas, while last year it emerged the number of street sleepers had more than doubled since Boris Johnson became Mayor in 2008.

A Westminster council spokeswoman said: “We have reviewed our hostels to ensure we provide services that are needed and help people move towards independent accommodation.”

Seyi Obakin, chief executive of Centrepoint, said: “We are working to ensure the transition to alternative accommodation is as smooth as possible.” Kevin Beirne, group director of One Housing Group, said: “We share the council’s concern that the building is not ideally suited for rough sleepers.”