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The average life expectancy of a homeless person is just 44 years.

The true scale of homelessness across the UK has been revealed in figures supplied by council responses to a freedom of information (FoI) request, showing that more than 28,000 people were recorded sleeping rough - five times more than the government admits. The housing charity 'Shelter' reported that 28,000 people were recorded as being homeless in England this Christmas (2019), but warned that the figures are likely to be even higher than that. The charity's extensive analysis of official rough-sleeping and temporary accommodation figures, along with social services records, shows a
23,000 increase in the figures - that is one in every 200 people -since they first started publishing their annual reports in 2016. (The Big Issue, 17 December 2019). Furthermore, the number of ill and disabled people becoming homeless has surged by 53% as local councils are increasingly unable to provide them with support

According to a recently published report by the Office of National Statistics on the number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales, there were 597 deaths of homeless people in England and Wales in 2017 - a 24% increase over the last five years. Men accounted for 84% in the 2017 total, ie there were more than five times as many recorded male deaths as female deaths in the homeless population. The mean age at death of homeless people was 44 years for men, 42 years for women and 44 years for all persons between 2013 and 2017. In comparison, in the general population of England and Wales in 2017, the mean age at death was 76 years for men and 81 years for women.

The following information comes from the most recent report concerning statutory homelessness in England, published on 12 September 2019 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government: The figures are based on full or partial returns for 319 out of 326 local authorities and inform that between January and March 2019, 70,430 households were initially assessed as threatened with homelessness or homeless. This is up 10.7% from 63,620 households in the previous quarter. 37,690 households were initially assessed as threatened with homelessness, up 10.2% from 34,190 in the previous quarter. 32,740 households were initially assessed as homeless - up 11.2% from 29,430 in October to December. On 31 March 2019, the total number of households in temporary accommodation arranged by local authorities under homelessness legislation was 84,740. This was 5.0% higher than the 80,720 households reported a year earlier and up 76.5% on the low of 48,010 on 31 December 2010. 62,010 households (or 73.2% of these households), on 31 March 2019, included 126,020 dependent children.

The following information was gleaned from the 'homelessness monitor England 2019', a study commissioned by 'Crisis', the national charity for homeless people: While rough sleeping may have levelled off somewhat in England after rapid growth since 2010, trends are still rising in three of England�s four broad regions, including London, and in core cities including Birmingham and Manchester. The official 2018 total remains 165% higher than in 2010. The total of rough sleeper numbers in London rose to a new high in the last quarter of 2018, up 25 per cent over 12 months, due to a renewed increase in rough sleepers of Polish and Romanian origin � up 69 per cent since the last quarter of 2017. According to the 2018 official estimates, across England as a whole a quarter of rough sleepers are non-UK nationals � a proportion which has increased substantially since 2017 and involves mainly citizens of other European Economic Area countries. However, United Kingdom-origin rough sleepers were also 13 per cent more numerous in the last quarter of 2018 than a year earlier and, like the all-nationality total, the highest on record.

The safety net once provided by Housing Benefit has now effectively ended for the bulk of private tenants in receipt of benefit across the country, with young people under 35 particularly badly affected by reduced Local Housing Allowance rates and the working age benefit freeze. Hardship due to standard delays for initial Universal Credit payments is compounded by widespread system errors, in some cases causing destitution. Further tightening of the Benefit Cap means that it now affects almost 53,000 households. Only around a third of local authorities reported that the Local Welfare Assistance scheme in their area played either a �very� or �somewhat� significant role in preventing or alleviating homelessness. In all, 18% of responding local authorities reported that they had no Local Welfare Assistance scheme at all any more in their area, including 38% in the Midlands.

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According to figures released by the Ministry of Justice, more than 1,000 prisoners were released into homelessness at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in England and Wales, prompting the government to increase funding for accommodation for prison leavers. Figures released showed that 840 men, 89 women and 85 young adults aged 18 to 24 had been released into rough sleeping or other forms of homelessness between 23 March, when the lockdown was imposed, and 30 April. A further 1,209 men, women and young adults had been released with unknown circumstances for accommodation in the same period.

According to the Office for National statistics, the deaths of 16 homeless people, mainly men, involving coronavirus were registered in England between 26 March and 26 June, stressing, however, that the figure may be an underestimate of the true number of homeless people who have died with the virus.

Created: Mon, 16 Dec 2019, Updated: Fri, 10 Jul 2020