New Zealand’s homeless die more than 30 years earlier than the general population, three quarters from preventable causes, a new study has found.
By Corazon Miller
The average age of death was just 45.7 years, and most of those who died were men. The most common causes of death included heart disease, 19 per cent (33), and suicide, 29 per cent (49).
The findings of the Waikato University study released today came from an analysis of 171 coroner’s reports into deaths of those with “no fixed abode”.
The youngest two were aged between 10 and 14.
Sandrine Charvin-Fabre, the lead author of the study, titled "Amenable mortality within the New Zealand homeless population", said the findings were “extremely shocking”.
The reports showed three of those who died on the streets died from hypothermia.
One case in the winter of 2016 was that of Penisione Sionepeni. At just 47 he was found dead beneath the Neilson St overbridge in Onehunga Mall.
Historic weather data shows temperatures overnight in the city dipped to as low as six degrees around the time of his death.
It was a death that, just like 75 per cent of those identified in the research, could have been prevented with the right access to care and support.
Richard Turipa is currently housed, but he has spent significant time in the past on the street.
He remains a part of the streetie whānau and volunteers with Lifewise as a peer support worker.
Over the years he’s lost many streetie friends.
Most of the deaths were young to middle-aged men according to the Waikato University study. (Source: Other)
“Little Man, Rangi, Papa Jack and Reg, these whānau they were a big part of the community, so it was sad when they left us,” Turipa said.
One of those he lost this year was Honotana Tamihana. He died alone aged 65.
Turipa says he was found dead, in his house, earlier this year. While he was housed at the time, Taminaha had spent much of his adult life on and off the streets.
As a long-time member of the Homeless Street Choir, and the wider street whānau, Turipa says his presence would be missed.
“With our whānau, whether on the streets or housed, it can take its toll on life,” he said. “Health just declines and it can get pretty bad.”
Turipa knows he too could have so easily been a part of the homeless toll.
“When I was on the streets, I was probably going to die on the streets, especially with all my health conditions,” he said.
“I still have those, but I am in a better place. I have a place to rest.”
Auckland City Mission chaplain Wilf Holt was not shocked by the findings, but said it brought home how big the gap was between those who lived on the streets and the rest of the population.
“There’s a real sadness. Whether it is anger I’m not sure. It’s something much stronger than sadness, that many of these deaths need not happen.”
He says every time they heard of someone dying, the loss reverberates among staff and the wider street whānau.
Holt says it’s particularly hard when the person who died had overcome so many challenges.
“You have somebody you have known, staff have worked with for many years, seen in many cases to beat their addictions. But the damage has already been done.”
The chaplain says there was simply no need for anyone to die on the streets.
“The thought of people dying on the streets with Covid was too much for our society and so we did something.”
During the first lockdown it was reported that rough sleeping had all but been eliminated, with only a handful left on the streets.
Holt hopes the momentum will continue.
“Just remove the Covid bit. It is not acceptable for people to die on our streets,” he said.
There are roughly 41,644 without a home in New Zealand — a number that is large, but as history shows us is not insurmountable.
But as the economic impact of Covid-19 reverberates others fear the number of homeless will grow.
Charvin-Fabre says no one is immune to homelessness.
“With the crisis of the Covid pandemic, more and more people who are already in the precarious and difficult situation economically and socially can experience homelessness,” she said.
She hopes the Government and healthcare providers will do more to ease access to care and ask more questions about a person’s mental health.
As for the rest of us, she says all that is needed is a smile.
“[It says] OK, I see you. You are not invisible. It makes a difference.”
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