Unconditional Shelter Now - Coalition Statement

07 January 2021 - Statement from the Dying Homeless Coalition

The Dying Homeless Coalition calls for a clear directive from government for unconditional, safe shelter to people experiencing homelessness until at least the end of this lockdown. We also call for funding for local authorities to support this. The directive and any resulting activities must include all people experiencing homelessness including unverified rough sleepers, sofa surfers, "hidden homeless" and people in overcrowded temporary or emergency accommodation. It must also include marginalised people within the homeless population, for example women, people with No Recourse to Public Funds and LGBTIQ+ people. Due to the cold weather and increased transmission rate of the virus, preventable deaths are so clearly inevitable if this does not happen immediately. #EveryoneIn2

About the Dying Homeless Coalition

The Dying Homeless Coalition is a national coalition which has formed in December 2020 with the purpose of preventing unnecessary deaths of people who are homeless. The coalition includes more than 50 members, with representation from within mainstream commissioned homelessness services, healthcare and grassroots and community groups. The Dying Homeless Coalition is administered by Museum of Homelessness and funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It is part of MoH’s work on the Dying Homeless Project which documents and remembers everyone who has died whilst homeless in the UK and campaigns to prevent future unnecessary deaths.

What can I do?

Please write or tweet your MP regarding the government's position that they will not be carrying out emergency support for people who are homeless during this winter's lockdown, as reported in the I paper on 6th January 2021 Homeless people face lockdown with no return of 'Everyone In' emergency policy (inews.co.uk)

You can find out more about the Dying Homeless Project here.