Homeless deaths hit one every six hours in UK as calls grow for urgent change

Kris Jepson has been investigating homelessness after being given exclusive access to data collected by the Museum of Homelessness for this special report

One homeless person dies every six hours according to analysis of new figures, which shine a light on a growing problem blighting modern Britain.

Figures shared exclusively with ITV News by the Museum of Homelessness, who analysed available data they obtained through Freedom of Information requests, show reported homeless deaths rose last year by an estimated 12.2% and have doubled in the last five years.

Dominic Drazdauskas is just one of an estimated 1,747 reported homeless deaths in 2023. Of those, like Dominic, 35% appear to be due to substance use and overdoses.

Described as a loving, yet vulnerable young man, the 35-year-old died on Teesside of an overdose last year, while he was homeless.

Dominic's cousin believes that with the right help, he might still be alive. Now she is calling for more to be done for those without a safe place to call home.

Annalise Argyle, his cousin, from Stockton, told ITV News: "He didn’t have a healthy lifestyle and whatever health issues he was suffering from was compounded with the fact that he was using drugs.

"He had nowhere to go. He’d burnt bridges everywhere. No one believed that he’d be able to stop using and all he really needed was some support."

Dying Homeless Project in figures:

• 1,474 - reported homeless deaths in 2023

• 12% - rise in homeless deaths last year

• 35% - homeless deaths due to substance use and overdoses

• 42% - rise in homeless deaths on the streets

• 10% - reported homeless deaths last year due to suicide

• 20% - rise in homeless people taking their own life

• 35 - the average age of death among men on streets

• 30 - the average age of death among women on streets

• 51 - homeless people died in North East in 2023

Source: Museum of Homelessness

At the time of his death, Dominic was living in homeless accommodation, but his cousin, who works with women who regularly live in those settings, said she has concerns over the level of support they offer.

"They're hidden...but people are dying

"I honestly think there should be like rehabilitation support within those places and not just letting them be left to their own devices," she continued.

"Some people go in with a drug problem and they come out with a worse drug problem, because it seems as if ghettos are created, where everybody is just piled in together, because there’s no hope.

"They’re hidden people, 'let’s just put them all together and at least we know where they are and they’re off the streets', but people are dying."

Even in death, Dominic had little to his name. Money was raised to buy flowers while the government paid for his send-off.

"It was a pauper's funeral and it was very, very sad to see that’s what it came to," added Annalise.

A report titled The Dying Homeless Project, set to be published by the Museum of Homelessness on Wednesday (16 October), but shared first with ITV News, reveals the true extent of the issue.

According to their analysis of available data, the number of people dying while homeless is growing - as is the rate of deaths among rough sleepers.

Their analysis of available data suggests reported homeless deaths on the streets have risen by an estimated 42%, while the data suggests 20% more young homeless people are now taking their own lives.

And living with the threat of potentially fatal violence also appears a reality, with the report estimating, from the charity's research of available data, that homeless people are at least three times more likely to be murdered than those with homes.

Matt Turtle, from the Museum of Homelessness, is calling for a systematic overhaul to prevent more homeless deaths.

"The systems we’ve got are not designed to deal with complexity," he explained. "They’re not designed to respond compassionately over a very, very long period of time.

"It’s about moving people along as quickly as possible. So the complexity of people’s trauma isn’t dealt with and that is the reason why we’re really seeing rises in the people dying."

The report suggests, that in the North East last year alone, 51 homeless people died, earning this relatively small region - population-wise - the highest rate of reported homeless deaths in England outside of London.

And the numbers could be far higher due to underreporting and other factors. That is something that rings true for Middlesbrough woman Susan Gill.

Susan ran the town’s homeless cafe for 15 years, but in her last four, she said the loss became overwhelming.

She told ITV News the impact "took its toll" and left her "devastated", adding: "Because we’d had that many deaths, we were still cooking a lot of food that we were cooking and we had a lot of waste at the end of the day, because we weren’t getting the numbers that we were catering for anymore."

According to data obtained by the charity, there were only eight reported homeless deaths in the town during those four years, rather than the 49 homeless clients that Susan claims died.

Across the country, the apparent disparity in the reporting and recording of homeless deaths is a key issue the Museum of Homelessness says needs looking into.

Mr Turtle continued: "We don’t do reviews when people die at a council level. So the information that we get is really, really patchy.

"Nearly one in ten of all the councils we asked for information didn’t have it, didn’t record anything at all, but until we have all local authorities, supported by central government, properly recording information, we’re not going to be able to make any improvements.

"We also need investment in rough sleeping services and we really need to properly regulate temporary accommodation so that when people do come off the streets, that they’re safe and they can move on with their lives."

The report is calling for this kind of care, alongside urgent policy reform, to ensure no one lives or dies without a roof over their heads.

But the likelihood of that is dependent on political will.

David Smith MP is vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ending Homelessness and believes a will does exist across the political spectrum.

He told ITV News: "We should be ensuring that, when there is a homelessness death, there is a review into that and that we learn the lessons from that.

"You need to know what the problem is and the scale of the problem, before you can do something about it and that’s why we need to have trauma informed approaches when we’re addressing homelessness and understand it’s not just simply a case for a lot of people of roof-lessness, albeit that is part of the problem, that it’s really something about what has happened in their life - what has happened to them and how can we help them through that process.

"It comes with all kinds of associated health issues, interaction with the criminal justice system, substance abuse, all of these things that often come along with it, we need to take a holistic governmental approach to this."

A spokesperson from Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Every one of these deaths is a tragedy and is a damning indictment of the disgraceful rise in homelessness in recent years which has a devastating impact.

“We are taking action by setting up a dedicated cross-government group, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, to develop a long-term strategy to get us back on track to end homelessness.

“Councils and their partners deliver vital work to tackle rough sleeping including drug and alcohol treatment and wrap around support. Funding allocations will be set out following the Budget."

Until change happens, and with the cold weather coming, there are likely to be more homeless deaths this winter.

Middlesbrough Mayor Chris Cooke said tackling homelessness is a key priority for the council, adding "We can’t do that work in isolation, and that’s why we work with key partners including housing providers, the police, health services and charities to ensure those who want that help can access it easily.

"We’re also happy to work with central Government to develop and strengthen these services, and will continue to seek the funding needed to make that work as effective as possible.

"We’ve recently applied for £6 million in Government funding which will make a real difference in tackling homelessness and providing temporary accommodation."

A spokesperson for Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, said: “The Council commissions a full range of support services to help people with different and complex needs ranging from substance misuse to domestic violence.

"We work closely with health and other specialist service partners, who often visit our commissioned temporary accommodation services, to encourage people staying there to access the support on offer."

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