Everyone In praised, but a record number of homeless people died in county in 2020

A RECORD number of homeless people died in Leicestershire in 2020, despite emergency support during the pandemic.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics estimate that at least 13 homeless people died in the county in 2020. Up from eight deaths in 2019, it is the highest number seen since 2013, when these figures were first collected.

The victims were mainly sleeping rough, but some were using emergency accommodation such as homeless shelters and direct access hostels.

Figures for 2020 were affected by the Everyone In scheme, under which more than 37,000 homeless people have been provided with emergency accommodation since March 2020.

Accommodation included hotels and other locations not typically used to house homeless people.

A lack of centralised record has made it difficult to identify deaths of homeless people housed under this scheme, which means the 2020 death rate may be higher - although charities say more people would likely have died if it wasn’t for the scheme.

Most of the deaths in Leicestershire were recorded in Leicester, which saw an estimated 10 deaths in 2020, while a further three deaths were recorded in Charnwood.

The death rate among homeless people in Leicester is more than twice the national average, with an estimated 62 deaths between 2013 and 2020, or 30 per million people. The national rate is 14 homeless deaths for every million people. England and Wales saw the deaths of at least 688 deaths of homeless people in 2020 - down from 778 in 2019, which had been a record high.

The figure is still 43 per cent higher than when the figures began in 2013. Again, the figures for 2020 are likely to underestimate the true number.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “To think at least 688 people’s final days were spent homeless in the pandemic is a

Councils need clear guidance to ensure everyone at risk of sleeping rough is offered emergency accommodation. Shelter

sobering thought. If it wasn’t for the government’s Covid response to help people off the streets even more lives would have been lost.

“With the virus still circulating, we cannot leave anyone out in the cold. Our services are already being approached by people in need of emergency accommodation, who are being turned away by councils and often told they have no rights.

“The government must step in again to keep people safe from Covid and the ravages of homelessness.

“Councils need clear guidance to ensure everyone at risk of sleeping rough is offered emergency accommodation, and the funding to provide it.”

Almost two in five deaths of homeless people were related to drug poisoning in 2020 (265 estimated deaths), which is consistent with previous years.

Meanwhile, an estimated deaths (2 per cent of the total) involved coronavirus.

Most homeless deaths registered in 2020 were among men (604 estimated deaths, or 88 per cent of the total), which is again consistent with previous years.

The average age at death for homeless people was 46 years for males and 42 years for females compared to 77 years for men and 81 years for women among the general population.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: “We urgently need to see the governments across England and Wales expand the current safeguarding review system used to investigate the deaths of vulnerable adults to include everyone who has died while street homeless.

“In the longer term, we also need to help people to avoid homelessness before it happens.