Social organizations are calling on the government to address the root causes of the issue by guaranteeing affordable housing and a robust welfare system. England’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 600 homeless people died in the streets or in temporary shelters during 2017; that is a 24 percent increase in the past 5 years. According to the ONS 84 percent of all deaths correspond to males living a condition of homelessness and on average they were 44 years old, The Guardian reported Thursday.
The number is an estimate ONS researchers obtained by analyzing death certificates. They looked for ones that included “no fixed abode,” night shelters, or hostels in the address box. The real number is expected to be much higher.
The ONS concluded the highest mortality rates were concentrated in London and the north-west, which includes Manchester and Liverpool.In these cities, homeless deaths have more than double between 2013 and 2017. Ben Humberstone, the ONS’s head of health and life events, said: “More than half were related to drug poisoning, suicide or alcohol – causes that made up only 3% of overall deaths last year.”
Government official James Brookshire argued Tuesday that government policy was not responsible for the spike in deaths. However, the Local Government Association’s housing spokesman Martin Tett suggested otherwise, pointing to lack of funding as a major impediment to prevent these deaths. “Proper resourcing of local government funding is essential if we are going to end rising homelessness,” Tett argued, stressing all homless deaths were preventable.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, an organization that seeks to end homelessness called on the government to fix the root causes of homelessness by”building the number of social homes we need and making sure our welfare system is there to support people when they fall on hard times.”
