World Homeless Day: Preventing homeless deaths through harm reduction
Gill Taylor reflects on how her Churchill Fellowship is exploring harm reduction approaches to help prevent deaths among people experiencing homelessness. Drawing on field research in Canada, she shares how peer-led services, overdose prevention support, and low-barrier access to care can help keep people safe while protecting dignity. Following World Homeless Day, Gill argues that preventing deaths requires a whole-system approach, with people with lived experience of homelessness and drug dependency at its heart.
By Gill Robin Taylor, 15 October 2026