Birmingham has highest number of homeless deaths in West Midlands
The estimated rate of homeless deaths in the region is 10.4 per million
Last updated 9th Dec 2021
New figures show that Birmingham has the highest death rate of homeless people in the West Midlands.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data revealed that 15 people died sleeping rough in the city last year.
Stoke-on-Trent had the second-most deaths in the West Midlands, with there being eight homeless people who died last year.
Both Cheshire East and West had three rough sleepers that died in 2020, while Shropshire had two, Wolverhampton had three and North Warwickshire had four.
However, the number of homeless deaths in Birmingham was lower than the amount recorded in 2019 (18) and 2018 (17).
There was also a decrease in the amount of identified (35) and estimated (45) deaths of homeless people in the West Midlands, with an estimated rate of deaths at 10.4 per million.
Each of those three figures saw an improvement from 2019, where there were 46 identified and 64 confirmed deaths, putting the rate of homeless deaths at 14.7 per million people.
An uncertain improvement
A total of 688 deaths of homeless people were registered last year in England and Wales, including 13 deaths involving Covid, according to ONS figures.
It is the first time the annual number of registered deaths has fallen since 2014, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The decreases in local, regional and national figures are initially positive, but factors such as the pandemic have created uncertainty over their accuracy.
The ONS also said the 2020 figures may underestimate the true number of homeless deaths.
The 'Everyone In' scheme saw thousands of homeless people rapidly brought to safety at the start of the pandemic, which the ONS said had made it more difficult to identify homeless people in its records.
People were also given emergency accommodation such as hotels to keep them safe.
Though, as there was no centralised record of these locations, it "has made it difficult to identify deaths of homeless people housed under this scheme", the ONS explained.
The figures include the deaths of people sleeping rough or using emergency or temporary accommodation at or around the time of death.
Due to delays in death registrations, about half of the deaths registered in 2020 occurred before this year, the ONS said.
The ONS has also refrained from commenting on the impact of the pandemic, lockdowns and the 'Everyone In' scheme on the number of deaths due to these delays.
London and the North West mark highest number of deaths
Almost 40% of the total deaths were related to drug poisoning, while deaths by suicide fell by around a third, from 112 in 2019, to 74.
Deaths related to alcohol also made up a small portion of the total.
Almost nine in 10 deaths were of men and 19 deaths involved people under the age of 25.
London and the North West were the regions with the highest number of deaths registered.
The figures show that the death rate of homeless people has more than doubled in three regions since 2013: the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, and the East Midlands.
"This simply shouldn't be a reality"
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said 688 deaths in a year is "clearly unacceptable" and these must be investigated to prevent people dying too early in future.
He said: "In one of the richest societies in the world, this simply shouldn't be the reality.
"But the fact that the number of deaths has officially gone down for the first time in five years and that there were so few deaths from Covid, despite the increased vulnerabilities of many who experience homelessness, is important.
"From April 2020 onwards, the Government provided anyone sleeping rough with accommodation as part of the Everyone In scheme.
"This shows the impact of providing stable accommodation, whilst treating homelessness as a health issue. We must continue to harness this approach moving forward."