Homeless Deaths and Hostels - BBC Piece

Earlier this year MoH revealed that 677 people who were homeless sadly passed away in 2019 with nearly 40% of people accessing some form of temporary accommodation at the time. MoH recently worked with BBC reporter and producer Rachel Stonehouse in their recent BBC news piece exploring incidents in hostels in Bristol and London respectively.

The short film, aired in early October on BBC News, highlights some of the shocking instances of neglect and marginalisation that sadly impact on people’s experiences. The piece includes interviews with MoH community members who have lived in hostels, bereaved families and Bristol based MP Kerry McCarthy. A lack of regulation and oversight contribute to the disturbing frequency of deaths in temporary accommodation.

You can watch the film below:

The latest on the Project

Our latest research for the project confirmed that 677 homeless people died in 2019, a 20% increase on the 563 who died in 2018. In total, the Dying Homeless Project has remembered 1469 people since it began in October 2017.

There are significant regional and national variations in the figures. The number of people who died while homeless in Northern Ireland doubled in the second half of 2019 – a staggering increase.

The overall figures are likely to be higher than we have reported due to the barriers to us gather the data that allows us to confirm each case. For example, Dundee Council has refused to submit information to the project for the second 6 months of 2019 despite the highly vulnerable community living in the city.

Most recently, we have recruited a new coordinator for the project and a special investigator. We are also planning to develop a network of interested groups to discuss the issues related to the project. Please get in touch if any of this is of interest.

Please visit our memorial site and campaign webpage.