Fourteen rough sleepers are dying in public parks or countryside areas each year on average in Australia, an analysis of hidden death reports reveals. Source: The Guardian.
The deaths of a young international student sleeping rough in Hyde Park, a young homeless mother who died of sepsis in Western Australia, and a newborn baby at a makeshift homeless camp near Wagga Beach have prompted an outpouring of grief and shock in recent weeks.
The deaths have triggered renewed focus on Australia’s homelessness crisis and the lack of social and emergency housing options, which are pushing vulnerable rough sleepers into precarious situations.
An analysis of coronial records, most of which are not public, reveals disturbing numbers of homelessness deaths in public parks and countryside areas, including riverbanks.
Between 2010 and 2020, 54 rough sleepers died in public parks, the analysis shows.
Eighty-five homeless Australians died in countryside areas – including in bushland, desert, beaches and riverbanks – in the same period.
The analysis was commissioned by The Guardian as part of an ongoing, years-long investigation into homelessness deaths and conducted by the National Coronial Information Service, which has access to non-public reports about deaths made to state coroners.
Since 2024, The Guardian has examined more than 600 homelessness deaths that show systemic failures – the lack of crisis and social housing, under-resourcing of homelessness services and gaps in the health system – are contributing to vastly premature deaths among those sleeping rough, resulting in a three-decade life expectancy gap with the general population.
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows the social housing waitlist for those in “greatest need” has continued to worsen each year since 2015, hitting record levels in June 2024.
University of Notre Dame professor Lisa Wood, who has led groundbreaking research into homelessness deaths, said the circumstances of the deaths were shocking and must bring the nation “to a crossroads moment in its homelessness response”.
She said housing must be explicitly recognised as a human right with clear statutory obligations to house people who are homeless, similar to the situation in Scotland.
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‘A sobering indictment’: 14 homeless people die a year in public parks or countryside in Australia, analysis finds (By Christopher Knaus, The Guardian)
