UK homeless deaths up 9% in a year including 11 children, say researchers

Deaths among homeless people in the UK have risen by 9% in a year and included 11 children, according to a group monitoring the issue.

The Museum of Homelessness said its research suggested at least 1,611 deaths in 2024 of people experiencing homelessness.

This was up from 1,474 deaths in 2023 and 1,313 deaths in 2022.

The Museum of Homelessness has been running the Dying Homeless Project since 2019 and gathers its data each year through freedom of information requests, coroner inquests and memorials submitted by bereaved family members.

While rough sleeping is most associated with homelessness, living in temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfasts, hostels or other short-term housing organised by a local authority is also a form of homelessness.

According to research by the Museum of Homelessness there were 11 children – those aged younger than 18 – included in the data for last year, of which four were babies who had not yet reached their first birthday.

Four others were aged between one and nine-years-old, and two children were aged between 15 and 17, while another’s age was unknown.

The researchers said it is likely these figures are lower than the true scale of child deaths and homelessness, as some local authorities might only record when the person who has applied to their local council for homelessness help dies in temporary accommodation, rather than all the members of their family.

The number of children who died in 2024 was up from four in 2023.

Homelessness minster Alison McGovern said such deaths must be seen as an “abject failure that cannot be tolerated”.

The most recent Government figures, published in July, showed the number of households in temporary accommodation in England had climbed to a new record high of 131,140 at the end of March 2025.

The number of children in temporary accommodation stood at 169,050 in March, up year on year from 151,540 and also the highest since records began in 1998.

In January a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Households in Temporary Accommodation said a total of 74 children, mostly babies, had died in recent years in England with temporary accommodation recorded as a possible contributory factor.

Fifty-eight of those who died between April 2019 and March last year were aged under one, the APPG said.

In each of the 74 deaths, temporary accommodation – considered a form of homelessness – was listed as a contributing factor to their vulnerability, ill-health, or death.

The Museum of Homelessness said overall, 44% of all the deaths in their data were drug and alcohol-related.

Across the UK’s four nations there were 1,142 deaths in England, 211 in Northern Ireland, 168 in Scotland and 90 in Wales.

Total deaths in Scotland and Wales fell year-on-year but Northern Ireland and England both had increases.

The biggest rises were in the South West, East Midlands and the East of England, the researchers said.

Project director, Matthew Turtle, said their data “shows how homeless people continue to be deeply failed”.

He added: “We are calling for urgent action from the Government to alleviate this crisis.”

Gill Taylor, also from the project, said: “With heavy hearts, we report the deaths of 1,611 people who died whilst homeless in 2024.

“Whilst it is positive that local authorities and safeguarding adult boards appear to be taking the issue more seriously, with better reporting and evidence of improved local partnership working to prevent deaths, turning the tide on this enormous loss of life needs more than better counting.

“We remember with love all those who died and continue our work in solidarity with bereaved loved ones and the homeless community.”

Francesca Albanese, from the Crisis charity, described the figures as “heart-breaking” and said they “must drive home the need for the Westminster Government to urgently come forward with an ambitious strategy to end homelessness”.

She added: “We are talking here about real people, including children – not just numbers.

“These are lives cut short and potential unrealised.

“In many cases, these deaths will have been avoidable.

“Each year, more people are forced into homelessness, often trapped for long periods in emergency accommodation. We know how much damage that can do to your health.”

Ms McGovern said the Government is speeding up efforts to tackle the root causes of homelessness.

She added: “These figures are heartbreaking. Every loss of a life, especially the death of a child, is an abject failure that cannot be tolerated.

“We simply cannot accept this as normal. Every person deserves a safe place to call home, which is why we are accelerating efforts to tackle the root causes of homelessness, expanding access to safe accommodation whilst also strengthening support services.”