London: Service for homeless people who died in past year

Covent Garden - image JS/ICN

The Annual Service of Commemoration for homeless people who have died in the past year will take place at 11am this Thursday, 8 November, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. The service brings together family and friends of those who died and people working with the homeless.

According to a study released last month, more than 440 people experiencing homelessness died outdoors, or in temporary accommodation in the UK in the past year.

The figures, compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) as part of their long-term project, Dying Homeless, show there were at least 449 deaths in a year - more than one each day.

The national charity for homeless people in the UK, Crisis, said the true number of those sleeping rough in England was far greater than the governments official figures, placing the number of people sleeping rough in England alone as over 8,000.

Households in temporary accommodation rose from 35,850 in 2011 to 54,280 in early 2017.

According to Shelter one in 55 single parent families became homeless in 2017-18 and 92% of the 26,610 cases were headed by a mother.

LINKS

ICN 10 October 2018 UK: More than 440 homeless people found dead in past year www.indcatholicnews.com/news/35779

and Guardian report:

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/08/homeless-people-die-uk-2017