'Every death on our streets is one too many, which is why we remain committed to ending rough sleeping altogether'

A nationwide effort to get people off the streets during the coronavirus pandemic contributed to a national drop in homeless deaths registered during 2020 – but nearly 700 people across England and Wales died without a home to call their own.

Housing charity Shelter has now alled on the Government to step in and ensure nobody is left out in the cold to face the ‘ravages of homelessness’ this winter.

Estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest three homeless deaths were registered in Ashfield last year, the first deaths since records began in 2013.

No deaths were recorded in Mansfield, Bolsover or Newark & Sherwood last year, but three people have died in Mansfield since 2013, alongside two in both Bolsover and Newark & Sherwood.

The figures, which mainly include those sleeping rough or using emergency accommodation, are based on registered deaths, plus an estimate of how many people died without being correctly identified as homeless.

A snapshot Government survey taken on one night between October and November 2020 found seven people were sleeping rough in the Mansfield area at that time, alongside four in Ashfield, six in Newark & Sherwood and four in Bolsover.

Sobering thought

Responding to the national figures, Polly Neate, Shelter chief executive, said: “To think people's final days were spent homeless in the pandemic is a sobering thought.

“If it wasn’t for the Government’s Covid response to help people off the streets, even more lives would have been lost.

“As we head into another hard winter, with the virus still circulating, we cannot leave anyone out in the cold.”

Nearly nine in 10 people who died while homeless nationally were men, while two in five lost their lives to drug poisoning and more than a dozen died with Covid-19.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokeswoman said the Everyone In scheme had helped 37,000 vulnerable people and the Government is providing more than £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness.

She said: “Every death on our streets is one too many, which is why we remain committed to ending rough sleeping altogether.”

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