The rate at which the homeless are dying in Los Angeles County spikes in 2021, resulting in an average of five deaths per day.
Almost 2,000 homeless people passed away in L.A. County this past year, as stated by a report from The New York Times. Many hundreds of those who died on the streets did so while in open and plain view of people moving by, with 287 dying on the sidewalks. Another 72 were discovered dead on the roads and 24 found in alleys, stated the report, which was compiled by making use of data from the coroner’s office of L.A. County.
These deaths are the markers of a massive increase in the deaths of the homeless for the past half-decade. Between the years of 2015 to 2020, the homeless people in L.A. County rose in population by almost 50%, stated a Times report. Throughout the same time period, the death rate of that same homeless population spiked well over 200%. Alone, L.A. County was responsible for almost half of all of the homeless deaths for all in California this past year.
Roughly 4,800 homeless people are thought to have died in California as of 2021. California alone is estimated to be home to almost one-quarter of America’s 500,000 homeless.
The Times highlighted quite a few factors that are causing this noticeable increase in deaths, including the overall age of the homeless population as a whole increasing and the fact that “living and sleeping outdoors” end up causing shorter life expectancy. “The wider availability of fentanyl, a particularly fast-acting and dangerous drug, has been a major cause of the rising death toll, but many homeless people are dying young of treatable chronic illnesses like heart disease,” stated a Times report.
There are various programs in place to allow free healthcare to the homeless Americans, but such programs are not made use of and treatments are not well maintained.
Those most at risk of death while homeless are men in their 50s and 60s, who were largely ignored throughout the entire COVID-19 pandemic because health officials were focused on COVID-19 to the exclusion of close to everything else. One of the biggest aspects of healthcare to be ignored throughout the pandemic was mental health services, which is what the large majority of homeless Americans require.
“These are profoundly lonely deaths,” stated David Modersbach, who carried out research on the homeless death rate in Alameda County, to the Times.
Overall, Men make up 67% of the homeless population in Los Angeles County, but makeup over 83% of the homeless deaths, which equates to the fact that there are issues that men are dealing with that are being ignored. At least some of that is substance abuse and alcohol-related, but violence is a separate issue.