By Tony O’Riley
Campaigners are calling for the Scottish government to pass legislation to help homeless people who are drug addicts after it was reported that the highest deaths of homeless people in the last few years were from Scotland.
Across Scotland, 359 people died while they were homeless in 2017 and 2018. Scotland also had the highest rate of homeless deaths of all UK countries in 2018 with a rate of 35.9 per million population compared to 16.8m in England and 14.5m in Wales. The rate of homeless deaths in Edinburgh was a staggering 42.1 in 2018.
These figures are made worse by revelation in January that housing chiefs in the Capital failed to accommodate homeless people almost 1,500 times from 2017 to 2019. In 80 per cent of those cases, the homeless people lost their accommodation through their own actions – including 17 per cent for drug taking.
The Capital’s convener for housing, homelessness and fair work ,Cllr Kate Campbell, said: “Every single one of these deaths is a tragedy and it’s heart-breaking that up to 22 people passed away in Edinburgh while homeless.
“We want to end rough sleeping and so we are working alongside partners, including Streetwork who do street based outreach, to engage with some of the most vulnerable adults in the city – people who may be at real risk of severe ill health.
“We also know that a number of these deaths were drug-related. We need to work across all levels of government to develop strategies and improve legislation so that we are able to support people suffering from addiction, and so that addiction doesn’t end up being an additional barrier for people already struggling to access services and get the support that they need.”
Charities have called on the Scottish Government to commit more funding to support vulnerable people when it sets its budget today. Nicola Hazelton, Shelter Scotland’s Edinburgh community hub manager, said: “Behind these figures lie individual personal tragedies. People living in desperate situations ultimately failed by the system.
“In today’s budget we’re looking to the Scottish Government to increase its investment in the services which prevent people’s lives spiralling into chaos and homelessness, and to commit to funding social house building.”
The authority now has 65 spaces over three sites where the homeless have support and access to mental health services.