About 490 Romanians were sleeping in London’s streets or parks between June and September 2014, up compared to the last quarter of 2013, when about 173 Romanians slept on streets, according to figures from the Greater London Authority’s Chain database, writes The Telegraph.

In London as a whole, almost a fifth of those sleeping rough are now Romanian, the single largest foreign nationality, according to figures.

Between January and June 2014, about 32,000 migrants from Romania and Bulgaria arrived in the UK,  24,000 of which said they were coming for work, after the work restrictions for the two countries were lifted, according to the International Passenger Survey. This compares with only 18,000 in the year to June 2013, of whom 13,000 said they were coming for work, according to The Telegraph.

Diana Mesesan, diana@romania-insider.com