Andy Burnham declared a crackdown on rough sleeping as one of his top priorities within hours of crossing the threshold in Downing Street as new Prime Minister.Yet swathes of London – including UK's main railway gateway to the world – are thronged by record numbers of people homeless and in squalor, many with drug and alcohol addictions.King's Cross, for many years notorious as a red light zone with streets occupied by prostitutes, skeletal heroin addicts and kerb crawlers, has lately been celebrated as 'gentrified'.The long-abandoned St Pancras station and neighbouring hotel were brought back into service two decades ago, connecting the Eurostar with Paris and beyond. But homeless people still now sit and slump, post signs begging for donations and leave human waste on the streets beside historic transport hubs and new tech HQs.Figures show more than 1,000 new rough sleepers' 'last settled base' was in asylum seekers' accommodation, up from 10 per cent the previous year – while 946 rough sleepers were undocumented and in Britain illegally.People from minority ethnic backgrounds form the majority – 53 per cent – of London's rough sleepersSprawling camps of rough sleepers in tents, sleeping bags or simply what tattered clothes they wear are seen strewn across the heart of England's capital. A Romanian, 30, giving his name as Vali said he had been in London homeless for three years King's Cross has been hailed as gentrified in recent years - yet rough sleepers remain outside