IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/102655.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Who still dies young in a rich city? Revisiting the case of Oxford

Author

Listed:
  • Brimblecombe, Nicola
  • Dorling, Danny
  • Green, Mark

Abstract

There are substantial inequalities in mortality and life expectancy in England, strongly linked to levels of deprivation. Mortality rates among those who are homeless are particularly high. Using the city of Oxford (UK) as a case study, we investigate ward-level premature standardised mortality ratios for several three-year and five-year periods between 2002 and 2016, and explore the extent to which the mortality of people who become homeless contributed to any rise or fall in geographical inequalities during this period. Age–sex standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for people aged under 65 years old, with and without deaths among the homeless population, were calculated using Office for National Statistics Death Registration data for England and Wales 2002−2016. Individuals who were homeless or vulnerably housed were identified using records supplied by a local Oxford homeless charity. We found that in an increasingly wealthy, and healthy, city there were persistent ward-level inequalities in mortality, which the city-wide decrease in premature mortality over the period masked. Premature deaths among homeless people in Oxford became an increasingly important contributor to the overall geographical inequalities in health in this city. In the ward with the highest SMR, deaths among the homeless population accounted for 73% of all premature deaths of residents over the whole period; in 2014–2016 this proportion rose to 88%. Homelessness among men (the vast majority of the known homeless population) in this gentrifying English city rose to become the key explanation of geographical mortality patterns in deaths before age 65 across the entire city, particularly after 2011. Oxford reflects a broader pattern now found in many places across England of increasing homeless deaths, widening geographical inequalities in life expectancy, and sharp increases in all-age SMRs. The answer to the question, “Who dies young in a rich, and in fact an even richer, place?” is – increasingly – the homeless.

Suggested Citation

  • Brimblecombe, Nicola & Dorling, Danny & Green, Mark, 2020. "Who still dies young in a rich city? Revisiting the case of Oxford," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102655, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102655
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/102655/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glen Bramley & Suzanne Fitzpatrick, 2018. "Homelessness in the UK: who is most at risk?," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 96-116, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chris O'Leary & Ligia Teixeira & Esther Coren & Zsolt Kiss & Anton Roberts & Harry Amitage, 2022. "PROTOCOL: The effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for reducing problematic substance use, improving mental health, and improving housing stability for adults experiencing homelessness: A syste," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), December.
    2. Chris O'Leary & Anton Roberts & Ligia Teixeira & Esther Coren, 2022. "PROTOCOL: The experiences of adults experiencing homelessness when accessing and using psychosocial interventions: A systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), December.
    3. Nessa Winston, 2021. "Sustainable community development: Integrating social and environmental sustainability for sustainable housing and communities," Working Papers 202106, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    4. James O'Donnell, 2020. "Estimating annual rates of homelessness," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(1), pages 1-34.
    5. Nessa Winston, 2022. "Sustainable community development: Integrating social and environmental sustainability for sustainable housing and communities," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 191-202, February.
    6. Coline van Everdingen & Peter Bob Peerenboom & Koos van der Velden & Philippe Delespaul, 2023. "Vital Needs of Dutch Homeless Service Users: Responsiveness of Local Services in the Light of Health Equity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    7. Nessa Winston & Patricia Kennedy, 2019. "Severe housing deprivation: Addressing the social sustainability challenge in the EU," Working Papers 201903, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    8. Sarah Johnsen & Beth Watts & Suzanne Fitzpatrick, 2021. "Rebalancing the rhetoric: A normative analysis of enforcement in street homelessness policy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(2), pages 355-371, February.
    9. Evgeniia Nikolaevna Kuziner, 2023. "‘People Don’t Live There, on the Streets—They Are Surviving’: Gender Specifics of Homelessness Coping Strategies in St. Petersburg, Russia," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, August.
    10. Martin Loosemore & Jemma Bridgeman & Hugh Russell & Suhair Zaid Alkilani, 2021. "Preventing Youth Homelessness through Social Procurement in Construction: A Capability Empowerment Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    11. Saerim Kim & Andrew A Sullivan, 2021. "Complementary policies for multidimensional problems: Does the low-income housing tax credit complement homeless services in the USA?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(5), pages 903-921, April.
    12. Marcus Knutagård & Cecilia Heule & Arne Kristiansen, 2021. "Missing Hero: Co‐Producing Change in Social Housing Programmes," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 234-244.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    health-geography; inequality; mortality; homeless; Oxford;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:102655. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.