Thread by @MetroUK

An average of two people died homeless every day of 2020 as the country struggled with the Covid-19 outbreak.

Last year an estimated 688 homeless people died in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics.

metro.co.uk/2021/12/01/two…

This is likely to be an underestimate, as the government scheme makes it harder to identify who is homeless.

The worst affected cities were London, with 143 deaths, followed by Liverpool City Region (46), Greater Manchester (35), Birmingham (21), Bristol (20) and Leeds (18)

Last year the average age of homeless people dying was 45.9 for men and 41.6 for women.

That’s 30 years below the average for the population in England and Wales.

Even young, fit people in their 20s are dying after finding themselves on the streets.
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An estimated 13 people – 1.9% – died with Covid 19 listed on their death certificate, according to the ONS.

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

‘As we head into another hard winter 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 this winter.'

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

By Jan 2021, 37,000 people were put in emergency accommodation or hotels under the £3.2million ‘Everyone In’ scheme – a response to the Covid-19 crisis.

But people were soon back onto the streets when hotels opened back up for business later in the year.

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Figures from Network between April 2020 and March 2021, revealed that there was actually a 3% increase in the number of people sleeping on the streets during the pandemic.

A recent report by the Public Accounts Committee, warned that despite the initiative’s apparent success, the Government’s rough sleeping strategy is ‘out of date’.