In death as in life, the homeless are invisible
Why the high death rate among the city's homeless likely underestimates the scale of the problem
More than four people a week are dying homeless in Scotland. That was the stark finding in the latest figures produced by the Scottish Government this month. A total of 231 people were estimated by the National Records of Scotland to have died without a place to call their own in 2024.
Edinburgh enjoyed the unhappy distinction of having the highest per capita homeless death rate in Scotland, a status City of Edinburgh Councillor Tim Pogson, Convenor for the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee, said the city “very much regrets” and he pledged that significant efforts and investments are being made to tackle the issue.
“The real answer to this is for people to be living in their own permanent home as quickly as possible,” Cllr Tim Pogson, convener of the city’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work told us. “We are absolutely committed to that.”
The saddest reflection on Scotland’s awful homeless death figures may not be the actual numbers – worrying though they are, and almost certainly under-reported. The greatest pathos perhaps lies in the methodology required for this grim annual accounting.
