Crisis responds to Museum of Homelessness research

Today, new research from Museum of Homelessness' Dying Homeless Project has been released showing that 1,286 people died while homeless in the UK in 2021. This was a 32% increase on numbers reported in the 2020 study, and an 80% increase on the numbers for 2019.

Responding to the figures, Matt Downie, Crisis Chief Executive, said: "The death of just one person is a tragedy, so it is even more heartbreaking and unacceptable that 1,286 people died last year whilst experiencing homelessness. That these people had to spend their last days and hours without a safe, stable home should shame us as a society.

“The fact that there has been an increase on the numbers reported from the previous year is extremely concerning - we cannot see this becoming a continuing trend over the next few years and for even more people to lose their lives. The UK Government urgently needs to expand the current safeguarding review system used to investigate the deaths of vulnerable adults to include everyone who has died while homeless, so that lessons can be learnt to help prevent future deaths. In the longer-term we need to see a strategy from the Westminster Government to provide safe and secure homes and access to healthcare, to end the scandal of people dying while homeless.”