Calls for 'urgent and sustained action' from Government after another 'deeply troubling' increase in deaths among the homeless community

STARK WARNING AFTER INVESTIGATION REVEALS LATEST FIGURES

- By JOE LOCKER

A LEADING charity says the Government's plans to tackle homelessness "can't come soon enough" after deaths in Nottingham doubled in a year.

New figures have revealed the city had one of the highest rises in the number of homeless deaths in the whole of the UK.

The Museum of Homelessness, which has compiled data, says 22 people who were experiencing some form of homelessness - died in 2024. This was up from 11 deaths in 2023, and seven in 2022.

The statistics include people sleeping rough, as well as those placed in emergency accommodation and in other insecure settings.

Each death was verified by a freedom of information request, coroners' report, charity, or family member.

Framework, one of Nottingham's leading homelessness charities, says a new panel is now being set up in collaboration with Nottingham City Council to review the deaths of people sleeping rough in the city.

The charity's new chief executive, Claire McGonigle, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The Museum of Homelessness does an important job in keeping the issue of deaths in the homeless community in the public consciousness.

"It is an indictment of our society's values and public policy that the average age of death in the homeless population is around 40 - about half that of the population as a whole.

"As with homelessness itself, the reasons for a homeless person's death are complex, but we can say for sure that the trauma that often leads to homelessness, and the physical and mental health issues and substance use issues that may exist alongside it, are major factors that increase the risk to life.