The number of people who died while homeless increased by 9 per cent last year, to 1,611. The figures equate to ‘an average of four needless deaths every day of the year’, says the Museum of Homelessness, which collates the statistics as part of its Dying Homeless Project.
The numbers include people sleeping rough as well as those in emergency accommodation and ‘other insecure settings’, which each fatality verified by a coroner’s report, FOI request, charity or family member. More than half can be classed as ‘deaths of despair’, the organisation says, with more reported suicides and evidence of a higher rate of drug-related deaths.
‘Deaths related to drug and alcohol use (including overdose) represent the largest proportion of all deaths reported to us, accounting for 43 per cent of all people who died whilst homelessness in 2024,’ the report states. Thirty-six people who died a drug-related death were rough sleeping or of no fixed abode at the time, a 50 per cent increase on the previous year – ‘clearly indicating a drug death epidemic on our streets’. Factors like ‘extreme isolation, exposure to inclement weather and the inability to access harm reduction and drug-related support’ all increased the risk of death, it adds.
The methodology used assigns a single cause of death in each case, however, so if someone is reported as dying of liver cancer in their 40s it will be recorded as ‘physical health: cancer’ even though it ‘may be the case that alcohol was a factor’, the report adds.
Seventeen local authorities said they did not hold information about the deaths of people experiencing homelessness, the report says, while 12 failed to reply to the FOI requests – including seven London boroughs ‘where homelessness and rough sleeping are higher than the rest of the UK’. Other councils failed to provide all the information requested, such as on age or cause of death.
The median age of death was 45 for women and 48 for men, slightly lower than the previous year. The number of people dying in temporary or supported accommodation was also up, the document adds. Since the project began in 2017, it has documented the deaths of more than 8,500 people.
The most recent report of the ongoing Women’s Rough Sleeping Census, which was launched by the Single Homeless Project (SHP) in partnership with other organisations, estimates the number of women sleeping rough to be ten times higher than the official government figures, representing a ‘systemic failure’ according to SHP.
‘With heavy hearts, we report the deaths of 1,611 people who died whilst homeless in 2024,’ said strategic lead for the Dying Homeless Project Gill Taylor. ‘Whilst it is positive that local authorities and Safeguarding Adult Boards appear to be taking the issue more seriously, with better reporting and evidence of improved local partnership working to prevent deaths, turning the tide on this enormous loss of life needs more than better counting. We remember with love all those who died and continue our work in solidarity with bereaved loved ones and the homeless community.’
The Dying Homeless Project 2024: findings available here