An Abject Failure: Why Rising Homeless Deaths Demand Urgent Action

This week, Sky News reported that at least 1,611 homeless people died in the UK last year, including 11 children!! That’s a 9% rise on the previous year. Four of those children were babies who never reached their first birthday.

The government’s own homelessness minister, Alison McGovern MP, called it an “abject failure that cannot be tolerated.” She’s right. But words alone won’t change the reality: people are dying because our systems are failing them.

The Numbers Behind the Crisis

• 1,611 deaths in 2024 – up from 1,474 in 2023, and 1,313 in 2022.
• 44% of deaths linked to drugs and alcohol.
• Regional breakdown: 1,142 in England, 211 in Northern Ireland, 168 in Scotland, 90 in Wales.
• 11 children lost – four of them babies.

These figures are almost certainly an undercount. The Museum of Homelessness, which compiles the data, warns that many deaths go unrecorded unless someone was officially registered as homeless.

Beyond the Statistics

Behind every number is a person. A mother. A son. A neighbour. A child. Homelessness doesn’t just mean sleeping rough. It includes families in hostels, young people in B&Bs, and children growing up in temporary accommodation. In England alone, 131,000 households are now in temporary housing, a record high. Some children are spending more than five years of their lives in limbo.

This isn’t just a housing issue. It’s a public health emergency.

What Needs to Change

• Safety nets that work. No one should die because they couldn’t access safe housing or support.
• Trauma‑informed systems. Homelessness is rarely just about bricks and mortar, it’s about care, trust, and dignity.
• Urgent investment. Local councils and frontline services need resources to prevent deaths, not just record them.

As Matthew Turtle of the Museum of Homelessness put it: “Homeless people continue to be deeply failed.”

Our Take at Homeless House

We refuse to accept this as normal.

At Homeless House, we’re working alongside young people and communities to try and build something different, systems that are trauma‑informed, youth‑led, and rooted in dignity. We’re not there yet, and we can’t do it alone.

Every step forward takes support, from funders, from councils, from neighbours who believe that no one should die for lack of a safe home.

Homelessness is not inevitable. It’s a failure of systems. Together, we can change that.

“1,611 deaths. 11 children. Homelessness is not inevitable – it’s an abject failure. We can, and must, build systems where people come first.”