Change must come! Behind the scenes of our investigation

A snapshot of coverage for the Dying Homeless Project 2024

On Wednesday we released our findings from the national investigation into the deaths of people experiencing homelessness, revealing a mounting national crisis and an emergency on our streets with the deaths of people sleeping rough up by 42% in one year vs 2022 across the UK

• Across all forms of homelessness, fatalities increased by 12% vs our 2022 figures.

• 20% more young adults experiencing homelessness completed suicide

• People experiencing homelessness are at least 3 times more likely to be murdered.

• The data shows stark regional inequalities in England with people in rural areas dying up to 10 years younger and the North East being highest death rate outside London.

• There is evidence of a consistent crisis across the UK, with ‘deaths of despair’ (drugs, alcohol or suicide) making up the largest proportion of cause of death in the community of people experiencing homelessness. Where we know cause of death these deaths make up almost half of the total. (47%) For example the investigation documented a 59% increase in the number of people who died whilst homeless in Cardiff, with 58% of those deaths fitting the category of ‘deaths of despair’. These are totally preventable with the right harm reduction, addiction and mental health services in place.

Since Wednesday our small crew has been working round the clock to share the findings as widely as possible.

Gill Taylor and James Vale in our campaign hub this week 

We are a small grassroots organisation. We spend our money carefully and we do not have a campaigns team or PR as many larger charities do. We are proud therefore to have regular extensive coverage of our investigation findings. This matters because it means the deaths in our community are visible and they cannot be ignored. It means that the potential for change is much stronger. It means that one day we might see fewer deaths in our community. This is our deep hope in doing this work.

Gill Taylor and Jess and Matt Turtle in our campaign hub this week 

We are grateful to people on MoH crew who provide pro bono expertise to help elevate our investigations work and we are grateful to the journalists who cover the story.

Matt Turtle on ITV news in an exclusive we worked with Kris Jepson on throughout 2024 

We hope there has been enough noise made this year, at an early stage in the new government’s administration, so that they start to make the right choices on investment, policy and legislation. We have written to Ministers, civil servants and other policy makers to start the process of trying to implement our recommendations.

Flyer for the vigil 

Tonight we go to Downing Street, to hold our annual vigil, a space for grief and a space to make our community visible.

We mourn our dead and we fight like hell for the living.