L.A. homeless deaths spike due to overdoses, not COVID-19, report shows

Practically 2,000 homeless individuals died in Los Angeles County in the course of the first 12 months of the pandemic, a rise of 56% from the earlier 12 months, pushed primarily by drug overdoses, authorities stated.

The findings launched Friday in a report from the county’s Division of Public Well being confirmed that regardless of preliminary fears, the virus itself was not the primary offender in deaths amongst California’s largest-in-the-nation unhoused inhabitants. However it did minimize individuals off from psychological well being and substance abuse remedy after providers have been drastically decreased to stop the unfold of the virus.

Between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the county recorded 1,988 deaths of homeless individuals, up from 1,271 deaths throughout the identical interval a 12 months earlier, the report stated.

Throughout each of these years, drug overdoses have been the main explanation for demise however elevated by 78% in the course of the pandemic’s first 12 months. Within the pre-pandemic 12 months, the Division of Public Well being reported 402 deadly overdoses. Within the 12 months after the outbreak, the quantity almost doubled to 715, the report stated.

The report discovered that 179 homeless individuals died from COVID-19 in the course of the pandemic’s first 12 months.

“The findings on this report replicate a real state of emergency,” stated First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis stated in a press release. “In a civil society, it’s unacceptable for any of us to not be profoundly disturbed by the stunning wants documented on this 12 months’s homeless mortality report.”

A examine of San Francisco homeless deaths launched final month confirmed related findings: Between March 2020 and March 2021, there have been 331 homeless deaths recorded in San Francisco, greater than twice the variety of any earlier 12 months, with the main explanation for demise being drug overdose, in accordance with a examine carried out by the College of California San Francisco and town’s Division of Public Well being.

Los Angeles County is house to the Skid Row neighborhood, infamous for poverty and medicines and the place LA’s homeless inhabitants was as soon as largely confined. Now, rows of tents, cardboard shelters, battered RVs and makeshift plywood buildings are acquainted sights all through the nation’s second-most populous metropolis.

Cities and states throughout the nation are grappling with rising homelessness, in addition to psychological well being crises. California has the most important unhoused inhabitants within the nation, estimated at 161,000 with almost 1 / 4 of that quantity affected by extreme psychological sickness, in accordance with a 2020 rely of homeless individuals required by the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth.

The pandemic seemingly exacerbated an already rising drug and overdose downside, pushed by the prevalence of fentanyl, authorities stated. Methamphetamine was concerned within the majority of deaths, at 75%, roughly the identical because the earlier 12 months. However the involvement of fentanyl in overdose deaths almost doubled to 45%, the report stated.

“The COVID-19 pandemic’s influence on individuals experiencing homelessness has clearly prolonged past the rapid results of this new and lethal virus,” stated Los Angeles Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer. “The pandemic has exacerbated stressors already burdening this susceptible inhabitants.”

Younger, Latino and Black individuals experiencing homelessness drove the will increase in deadly overdoses, the report stated.

Coronary coronary heart illness was the second main explanation for demise within the first 12 months of the pandemic, accounting for 309 deaths and a rise of virtually 30% from the earlier 12 months, the report stated.