Rise in rough sleeper deaths in UK prompts call for shelter funds

Rough sleepers’ tents across the river from the Houses of Parliament. Photograph: Maureen McLean/Alamy

Andrew Reece was 37 and sleeping rough in Stoke-on-Trent when on 10 May 2023 he took his own life in an abandoned and roofless children’s home.

Reece, known locally as Pud, was one of an estimated 155 people who died in the UK last year while rough sleeping, an annual increase of 42%, according to a count by the Museum of Homelessness project.