More action needed to tackle homelessness crisis after 1,720 deaths in 2025

Martin Shipton

Homelessness charities are calling for more resources to tackle the problem after research found that 1,720 people – including 51 children – died while homeless in 2025.

While the recorded number of deaths in Wales fell from 90 to 62, the charity Museum of Homelessness said the statistics should be treated with caution because some large local authorities, including Bridgend and Newport, had not supplied figures.

Independent research by the Museum of Homelessness found that deaths across the UK rose by 6.8% in 2025 compared with the previous year. More than 10,000 people have died since 2017.

The charity said local authorities were under-reporting the scale of deaths among homeless people, with 197 deaths missing from the data they provided – more than one in 10 of the total recorded by the investigation.

More than 30% of the deaths in 2025 occurred either on the streets or in accommodation for rough sleepers.

“Deaths of despair”, caused by drugs, alcohol or suicide, accounted for 52% of deaths. The charity called for urgent investment in recovery, harm reduction and mental health services.

Jess Turtle, director of the Museum of Homelessness, said: “This year’s findings mark a devastating milestone for the Dying Homeless Project. The investigation has now documented 10,243 deaths since records began in 2017, providing stark evidence that homelessness is a growing public health and social justice emergency.

“A long-term picture is emerging of a system that pours billions of pounds into substandard emergency and temporary accommodation without the support in place to give people a fighting chance.

“These investigation findings are released at a moment when national political attention is increasingly focused on homelessness and rough sleeping. However, the findings suggest that the scale of preventable death remains profound and, in many cases, poorly understood.”

She continued: “Our findings reveal a homelessness system in which increasing numbers of people closest to the streets are living in emergency and unsupported accommodation where they are exposed to people and situations that represent a genuine risk to life.

“During the year we documented the case of Zaid Yawad, who died in a hostel in Bristol and wasn’t found for over a week despite his family raising a missing persons report.

“In Cornwall, Claudio Aquilino and Daniel Coleman died at the hands of serial killer James Desborough, with four more deaths at the same hotel used to accommodate homeless people in Newquay remaining under police investigation.

“The findings highlight that simply moving people off the streets is not a solution to homelessness and does not necessarily save lives.”

Ms Turtle added: “Our investigation reveals a nationwide scandal that we already see all too often in our day-to-day work on the frontline in London. People are placed in unsafe, pay-per-night accommodation without support and left to fall through the gaps.

“We are pleased to see the motivation to tackle homelessness and investment in community solutions coming out of government.

“However, it must create high-quality settings with relationships and consistent wrap-around support to support healing, rather than hastily put-together ‘sit-up’ services or isolated, dangerous placements.”

More than 30% of all deaths recorded in 2025 occurred either on the streets or in short-term accommodation intended for people who had recently slept rough, despite rough sleeping accounting for less than 3% of the overall homeless population.

The charity said: “At least 214 people died while rough sleeping or with no fixed abode, representing a further increase on the previous year.

“We have found evidence that people take their chances on the street rather than go into ‘sit-up’ accommodation offers or dangerous settings. However, councils are responding by using enforcement action rather than improving services.

“We also found evidence of 44 people dying preventable deaths shortly after being released from prison, showing that enforcement enhanced risk at every stage of the criminal justice system.”

‘Compassionate’

Museum of Homelessness director Matthew Turtle said: “We need far better compassionate, community-led solutions to homelessness.

“For example, Camden has the fourth-highest rate of deaths in the UK, but they recently renewed a £60,000 contract for police officers to tear down encampments. That money could fund a community-led shelter or two outreach workers instead. It’s a disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ money.

“We want the government’s energy to get people off the streets to be channelled in the right way, without the authorities resorting to punitive measures that increase social exclusion and risk to life.”

He added: “Our investigation presents the strongest evidence yet that the official picture is substantially incomplete.

“We identified significant gaps in local authority recording, major inconsistencies in reporting practices and substantial evidence that many deaths are invisible or ignored by local authorities.

“The project submitted Freedom of Information requests to all local authorities and housing bodies responsible for homelessness. Yet nearly 15% of authorities either failed to respond or stated that they did not hold the data requested. This raises serious questions about how deaths are monitored, investigated and learned from locally.

“Most significantly, the project identified 197 deaths through memorial services, bereaved families, frontline workers and local media reports that were not included within local authority FOI responses.

“This means more than one in 10 recorded deaths were found outside official local authority reporting mechanisms.”

‘National shame’

Jamie-Lee Cole, strategic communications lead for Wales’ largest homelessness and rough sleeping charity, The Wallich, said: “It’s devastating, and a national shame, that such a huge number of adults are losing their lives during a period of high stress and instability.

“And there are no words to describe the gravity of how many children were recorded in this investigation. We have a duty to ensure every child has a safe home and protect them from harm.

“The housing emergency across the UK is real and the number of people and families without a permanent home is not acceptable.

“We will continue to pressure the Welsh Government to deliver more affordable homes and set out a clear plan for ending rough sleeping and all forms of homelessness.”

Preventable

She added: “Deaths from drugs, alcohol and suicide are completely preventable with the right support. Improving mental health provision and honest substance use policy that focuses on reducing harm – instead of criminalisation – saves lives.

“While people are stuck in the limbo of homelessness, we have to better look after people while they go through that trauma – it’s clear from the Dying Homeless Project that their lives depend on it.”

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