In its annual report, the Collectif Morts de la rue indicates that 497 homeless people and 88 former homeless people were found dead in the street or in hospital last year in France.
In 2015, 497 deaths of homeless people (SDF) and 88 former homeless people were reported to the Collectif Morts de la rue (CMDR), the organization indicates in its annual report. The proportion of deaths would be 6 times lower than the actual estimated number (between 1,489 and 4,253 deaths in 2015).
The Collective explains that their data should be interpreted with caution. They represent, in fact, “only a part of reality” since not all the disappearances of homeless people are reported. This report does allow us to imagine the profile of these vulnerable people, the vast majority of whom died in the street.
Over a decade on the streets
Aged on average 49 years at the time of their death, or 30 years younger than the rest of the population, the homeless are mostly men who have lived on the streets for at least 10 years. Last year, the CMDR also identified 43 women with an average age of 52 who have lived outdoors for more than 8 years, 6 minors under 15 and infants. They also note the deaths of 29 migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach Britain.
In more than 4 out of 10 cases, these people died on the public highway or in makeshift shelters (against 6% of the general population). As many died in hospital. Although the causes are only known for half of them, it appears clear that the homeless succumb to violent deaths (murder, drowning, falls, etc.).
On the side of the former homeless, it is the cancers that prevail. Pathologies which develop, in particular because of their poor state of health and living conditions. More than half smoke tobacco, more than a third drink alcohol and less than a quarter use drugs, the report describes.
Homeless people don’t just die from the cold
In the light of these data, the Collective endeavors to “qualify the popular image of the alcoholic tramp who freezes to death alone in the street”. He underlines in fact that “hypothermia represented 5 deaths in 2015, ie less than 1% of deaths in 2015”. While it recognizes that the cold accentuates the fragility of this population, the CMDR recalls that the cold is a natural risk factor for death. “The fact that some people are homeless is a social factor of increased risk of death. But this homeless status can be addressed by public policies, while the winter cold is immutable, which encourages inaction, ”he believes.
Thus, the Collective insists on the need to conduct a real prevention policy and the importance of setting up long-term accommodation whatever the season. In France, some 161,850 people are believed to be living on the streets.
.
