Homeless deaths have more than doubled over the last five years

A homeless person sleeping on the street
Support us and go ad-free

A study by The Guardian found that the number of homeless people dying on the streets or in temporary accommodation has more than doubled over the last five years. And this shocking statistic provides yet more evidence of the growing homeless crisis in the UK.

“Failure of this Tory Government”

According to The Guardian:

With people found dead in supermarket car parks, church graveyards and crowded hostels, the number of deaths has risen year on year, from 31 in 2013 to 70 in 2017. At least 230 people have died over that period.

These figures can only provide an estimate of the number of deaths on the streets. Since 2010, the number of people sleeping rough in the UK has risen 169%. A government snapshot estimated [pdf, p3] that there were 4,751 rough sleepers in the UK last autumn. But homeless charities have said these figures fail to reflect actual levels of rough sleeping.

The Guardian explained that, in 2017, there had been “an average of more than one death a week” and that these figures:

are likely to be a substantial underestimate, as no part of the UK government records homeless death statistics at a national level, and local authorities are not required to count rough sleeper deaths.

As MP Laura Pidcock said, these figures only “scratch the surface”:

Read on...

Support us and go ad-free

Jeremy Corbyn was openly critical of “this Tory government”, and was clear where blame lies:

And David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, also explained that these deaths are not ‘accidental’:

“A stain on our national conscience”

As The Canary previously reported, homelessness has reached “dramatic proportions” in the UK. Too many homeless people ‘vanish’ onto the streets, into doorways, into phone boxes. During a brutal winter, too many homeless people died. By 2020, over 1 million households risk becoming homeless, “because of rising rents, benefit freezes and a lack of social housing”.

Homeless charities have also responded to the latest statistics:

According to The Guardian:

Experts have put the rise down to a rapidly increasing homeless population, rising rents, welfare cuts and lack of social housing, and have called for the government to take urgent action to address the root causes of poverty.

Some think there is only one way to end this crisis:

The death of one person on the streets is a tragedy. When this many die, the government has blood on its hands and must be held to account.

Get Involved!

Call Streetlink if you see a homeless person who needs support.

– Support Help the Homeless, which gives grants to homeless charities across the UK.

Featured image via Pixabay

Support us and go ad-free

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us

Comments are closed