Research led by the University of Bristol has revealed a marked and sustained rise in official coroner investigations linking deaths to homelessness and insecure housing conditions, emphasizing what researchers describe as a “growing national concern.”

A new report, due to be presented to policymakers, reinforces this evidence, pointing to a significant increase in such cases in recent years.

The investigations, known as Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports, are carried out by Coroners, who are increasingly highlighting specific issues, such as a lack of social housing, the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ that reduces benefit entitlement, and poor mental health support provision.

The University of Bristol-led findings show 18 such cases from 2017 to 2021. The number rose sharply to 38 between 2023 and 2025. This represents an annual increase of about three times in PFD reports.

According to Dr Edward Kirton-Darling, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol, the research is the first to examine how coroners report on homelessness and insecure housing cases to help prevent future deaths.

“The results are quite startling. In the earlier data set, when the person who died was experiencing homelessness, this was often only mentioned in passing, while more recent reports show many more Coroners are actively focusing on this.”
Dr Edward kirton-Darling

Moreover, in more recent data, most reports focus specifically on homelessness and housing.

The findings also show that coroners are now sending these reports to housing authorities, including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, about once every eight weeks, compared with roughly one report per year in the earlier period.

Coroner Reporting Gaps Reveal Regional Imbalance in Homelessness Death Investigations

The report, which calls for improvements to the investigation system at the central government, the Chief Coroner level, and within individual coroner jurisdictions, has identified significant regional disparities in how deaths among homeless and precariously housed people are recorded across England.

The findings suggest that Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reporting linked to homelessness is highly uneven, raising concerns about consistency in how such deaths are investigated and documented nationally.

“Despite numerous deaths of homeless people in cities like Bristol, Southampton, Nottingham, and Exeter, there were no reports by Coroners. There were none from the East Midlands as a region, or from South East England, except for Brighton.”
Dr Edward Kirton-Darling,

By contrast, the report shows that a small number of cities account for a large proportion of recorded activity.

According to figures from the Museum of Homelessness, which records deaths among people experiencing homelessness, Brighton, Manchester, and London accounted for 37% of such deaths in England in 2024. The discrepancy between this proportion and the 58% share of PFD reports from the same cities highlights a potential imbalance between where deaths are occurring and where systemic issues are being formally identified and escalated through coroner reporting.

Dr Kirton-Darling stressed that “the numbers of PFDs may appear small, but emerging from a legal process of scrutiny of death by an independent Coroner,” adding that “they constitute a particularly important indicator of social issues which require national public and policymaker attention.”

Calls Grow for System Reform After Homelessness Death Report

Calls for systemic reform have intensified in the wake of new research exposing significant shortcomings in how deaths among homeless and precariously housed individuals are investigated and translated into policy action.

The findings have strengthened concerns that existing investigative mechanisms are not adequately structured to capture, analyse, or learn from fatalities linked to homelessness.

Although Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports are designed to identify systemic risks and reduce the likelihood of recurrence, researchers warn that uneven application, variation in quality, and inconsistent interpretation significantly undermine their effectiveness as a coherent national learning framework.

Ciara Bartlam, a barrister and former specialist homelessness officer, drawing on her combined experience in frontline homelessness services and her current work representing bereaved families at inquests and inquiries, emphasized the urgency of reform, stating that the report powerfully articulates the scale of the issue.

She stressed that the current system must develop a structured capacity to learn from the deaths of people experiencing homelessness. This, she argued, “requires data, training for coroners and a national oversight mechanism that is long overdue, ” to ensure consistency and accountability.

Without these reforms, she warned, critical lessons continue to be missed, and opportunities for prevention are lost. The report, she added, represents an important foundation, but only the beginning of a much broader process of systemic change.