Men are nine times more likely to die homeless according to a report by the University of Sheffield by the charity Crisis.

According to the report's author, in the records of deaths in England between 2001-2009, 1,731 were identified as having been homeless people and 90% of these were male.

On average, four men die homeless every week in England compared with 2 women every month.

The report says: “Females ‘do better’ than males, at age 16-24 they are one and a half times more likely to die than their housed counterparts while males are twice as likely. At age 25-34 females have double and males quadruple the chances of dying as the general population of that age.

“By early middle age, 35-44, females are nearly three times and males nearly five times as likely to die, while for 45-54 year olds the ratio falls back to twice for females and nearly three times for males. It is not until we reach 55-64 that the ratio approaches the national average, with females having the same chance of dying as the general population and males only having a third higher risk.”

The report found that homeless people are more likely to die young, with an average age of death of 47 years old and even lower for homeless women at 43, compared to 77 for the general population, 74 for men and 80 for women.

Homeless people are particularly vulnerable to deaths due to drugs, with men being seventeen times, and women thirteen times, more likely to die than the general population.

The authors of the report speculated that that one of the reasons more men die homeless is that they are less likely to be given help and support.

They said: “It may be that local authorities are more likely to rehouse single women than men as they may be seen to be at greater risk sleeping on the streets”.

The proportion of men dying homeless compared to women is consistent with the number of men and women sleeping rough. The report found that 87% of rough sleepers are men.

---Photo Credit: flickr/Centrepoint

Article by Glen Poole author of the book Equality For Men

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