A lengthy piece just published by the BBC. For a change, the gender balance of the dead “people” is mentioned, early on:
Almost 600 homeless people died in England and Wales last year, according to official figures published for the first time.
The figure represents a rise of 24% over five years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
These are the first official estimates of the number of deaths of homeless people, which show 84% of those who died were men.
I can see no mention in the article of the fact that men represent the majority of the street homeless (85 – 90 per cent) in large part because women are more likely than men to be offered accommodation when in difficult circumstances. They include, of course, many Armed Forces veterans, who are far more likely to be men than women.
Street homelessness reduces life expectancy by over 30 years, in part due to high suicide rates among the homeless. We covered the issues of homelessness and suicide in our 2015 general election manifesto (pp.40-8).
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