The Office for National Statistics (O.N.S.) in the United Kingdom has dropped its plans to no longer publish their collected data on the death of homeless people. The O.N.S. had previously stated that it would no longer publish such data on the grounds the collection of such data was too inaccurate and not effective enough.
However, this failed to convince homeless advocates and pressure groups who claimed that despite the statistics being imperfect they still had a validity which conveyed some useful information. The O.N.S. was forced to reconsider their position.
This represents a little victory for homeless advocates!
However, it also caused a tremendous furor! The main body which publishes statistical data in the United Kingdom, the O.N.S. had recently announced a decision to stop publishing the estimated rate and causes of annual death rates among the homeless. The reasons used to justify this step was that the statistics were not 'accurate' and 'efficient' enough. Therefore, the publication of such statistics lacked 'utility' as well as 'validity.’ They stated, :The O.N.S. will provide an improved and more efficient health and social care statistical landscape.”
In other words, wait till the O.N.S. come up with more robust statistics based on an improved methodology. In fact, it did not sound convincing.
Waiting for such a new report might as well as be pointless as the homeless hanging around in the 'Waiting for Godot' play of Samuel Beckett. In fact, you might as well argue that the O.N.S. has already stopped publishing statistics on the deaths of homeless people. The last report was published in 2022 which covered the year 2021. No report came out in 2023 covering 2022!
Why the procrastination? Is this due to pressure from politicians who would rather sweep all this under the carpet? After all, the British parliament has abandoned promises to end homelessness and has not even passed 'the no fault eviction' bill.
The publication of the number of deaths of homeless people represents a terrible indictment of the British state not to mention the vested interests of many indifferent landlords and real estate developers.
Those statistics of the estimated death among the homeless are important irrespective of their limitations. We need to know how many died, where, when, why, and who to prioritize in terms of better state intervention to prevent such deaths.
For what they are worth, the last O.N.S. report was released on 23 November 2022. The main points mentioned in the report are that an estimated 741 homeless people died in 2021 in England and Wales. As many as 35% of the homeless died due to drug poisoning, 13% by suicide, 10% from alcohol, and 3.5% from Covid 19. James Tucker the statistician involved in drawing up the report stated, “Any death in these circumstances is a tragedy and our estimates are designed to help inform the work of everyone seeking to protect this highly vulnerable section of our community.”
The O.N.S . is hardly the only research body that does research into the death rates among the homeless. Shocking findings come from an analysis by the National Child Mortality data base. This organization consists of researchers who gather data from panels of health care professionals, social workers and coroners. They found that since 2019 an estimated 55 children had died in temporarily housing due to poor quality housing. Many of those are babies who died from chronic exposure to mold which grows in cold, damp and overcrowded substandard housing. As many as an estimated 450,000 houses in England suffer from condensation.
The coroner Joanne Kearsley found that a two-year-old boy, Awaab Ishak died of severe respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to the mold in his home in December 2020. The two year old boy was a friendly, lively, and affectionate boy who loved to play with his car. He had a wonderful sense of humor. Despite endless complaints from the parents, Rochdale Borough Housing took no action. Instead, they told the parents to paint over the mold. Parents of the child stated, “We were left feeling absolutely worthless at the hands of the Rochdale Borough Housing.”
The facts are that cold and damp poor-quality housing can kill. It can lead to asthma, deadly respiratory infections, as well as mental health problems. Black molds which fester on walls can result in the release of dangerous toxins which lead to 'sick building syndrome.' Young children and people with a weakened immunity system are particularly vulnerable. All you need to do is breathe those toxins into your lungs.
We need the government bodies such as the O.N.S and other researchers to do proper and improved research into not only the estimated scales of those deaths but the causes. The results of proper research more effectively bolster attempts to intervene and alleviate homelessness. Of course, research is not enough.
We need to enforce more radical measures by massive campaigning for improved protection of the homeless. In this respect there is no room for further procrastination. Research and rescuing remain urgent!