Homeless man who died near Parliament was 'a former model'
A man found dead in an underpass near Parliament was a former model, a homelessness charity has said.
The Connection at St Martin's said the dead man, who it did not name, had also worked in the hospitality industry.
He was discovered in an underpass at Westminster Underground station shortly after 7.30am on February 14.
Scotland Yard said the man's death was being treated as unexplained, but not suspicious.
Connection said the man was a Portuguese national and was a "client" who had stayed in its emergency night centre for some time.
He was applying for a job as a waiter as recently as last week and while he had "complex circumstances" he "enjoyed singing and regularly attended yoga classes".
The charity's chief executive, Pam Orchard, said: "Everyone who is homeless is someone's son or brother or dad.
"He had strengths, talents and skills but he also had problems and things went very wrong for him. The support shown by the wider public for him and his situation has been very moving."
The death, just yards from the Palace of Westminster, prompted some MPs to demand more action to tackle homelessness.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was among those who sent flowers to the underpass where he was found and a card that read: "This should never have happened. As a country we must stop walking by. Rest in peace."
After the man's death was discovered on Wednesday, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner wrote on Twitter: "A homeless man who was seen frequently at the tube entrance to Portcullis House Westminster underground station has been found dead today.
"Whatever the circumstances it's a terrible tragedy that somebody ends their days like this, the govt must do more to combat homelessness."
Jamie Evans - a friend of the deceased man - was also in the underpass the night he died.
He told ITV News: "Basically he was alright at five and then at seven they've tried waking him up and he's just not awake, he's not waking up and...dead."
Last year, on a single night, over 4,700 people slept rough on England's streets.
That was an increase of 15 percent on the previous year making it the seventh consecutive increase.
The life expectancy of someone who is homeless is 47-years-old - compared to 77-years-old in the general population.
Westminster has the highest figure for homeless people with 217 people sleeping rough there on an average night.
Mick Clarke, chief executive of homeless charity The Passage said the increase in the number of people being homeless is linked to government cuts: "The fact that you've had 169% rise in rough sleeping since 2010 has to be linked to some of the welfare reform cuts, in our opinion. It's about how we move forward now to make sure that we properly resource social care."
The Department of Communities and Local Government issued a statement saying that a billion pounds was being spent addressing the problem. The department added that the target is to eliminate rough sleeping within a decade.