Homeless deaths: Disgraceful number of people are dying in Hampshire while sleeping rough, new study reveals

STARK figures have revealed dozens of homeless people have died on the streets of Hampshire in the past five years, sparking a public outcry for the government to act.
Figures have revealed the number of homeless people dying across England and Wales.Figures have revealed the number of homeless people dying across England and Wales.
Figures have revealed the number of homeless people dying across England and Wales.

At least 83 people are estimated to have died while sleeping rough in the county, data released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) today claimed.

Nationally, the study unveiled the number of people dying while sleeping rough or in emergency accommodation rise from 482 in 2013 to 597 in 2017 across England and Wales.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Locally, Southampton saw the highest number of deaths between 2013 and 2017 with 40 estimated to have died. Portsmouth had 20 in the same period, while Fareham noted five, Gosport recorded two and in Havant three people died. In Winchester 13 people died.

Figures have revealed the number of homeless people dying across England and Wales.Figures have revealed the number of homeless people dying across England and Wales.
Figures have revealed the number of homeless people dying across England and Wales.

Now homeless charities are demanding action from the government to prevent the poor dying on the streets.

Bev Saunders – founder of Portsmouth-based Helping Hands, which dozens of homeless people every week – was shocked by the news.

‘This is absolutely disgraceful,’ she said. ‘One person dying is too many, never mind 20 in Portsmouth.’

Read More
Portsmouth to splash out £1m on new properties for the homelessÂ
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Polly Neate, chief executive at Shelter – which operates in the Portsmouth area – said the government had ‘the power to fix’ the crisis and urged Westminster to ‘urgently ramp up’ the construction of social housing and ‘ensure housing benefit can cover rents’.

‘The high number of deaths across England should be a wake-up call, both regionally and nationally,’ she added. ‘There is nothing inevitable about people dying homeless, it is a direct consequence of a broken housing system.

‘When more and more people have no choice but to sleep on the street, we see the absolute sharpest end of the housing emergency. Unstable and expensive private renting, welfare cuts and a severe lack of social housing are fundamentally at the root of this crisis.’

Homeless charity Crisis' chief executive Jon Sparkes said the government must ensure councils have the cash to conduct reviews into the death of every person who has died while homeless.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He added: ‘It's nothing less than shameful that hundreds of people across England and Wales with nowhere to turn have died while homeless, especially when we know that homelessness is entirely preventable. This simply cannot go on.’

The study found that 571 of those estimated to have died nationally were in urban local authority regions compared to 26 in rural council areas.

The ONS said local areas in England with the highest deprivation had around nine times more deaths of homeless people relative to their population than the least disadvantaged areas.

Ben Humberstone, ONS head of health and life events, said the new data showed that deprivation levels had a ‘real impact’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He added: ‘Every one of these deaths is a real human tragedy, and understanding where these deaths occur is particularly poignant.’

Communities secretary James Brokenshire said the government was investing £1.2bn to tackle homelessness and had ‘bold plans backed by £100m to end rough sleeping for good’.

He said councils had used the cash to create an additional 1,750 beds and 500 rough sleeping support staff and pledged to hold councils to account to ensure independent reviews into the deaths of rough sleepers are carried out.

Mr Brokenshire added: ‘Every death on our streets is one too many and it is simply unacceptable to see lives cut short this way.

‘These figures will support us in our mission to end rough sleeping for good, ensuring we have as much detailed information as possible, so we can target support in the right way.’