Landmark Report
All politics is local, so, I signed-up for email bulletins from the City about issues that concern my work as an artist. The statement copied here arrived in my inbox like the shriek of an emergency vehicle siren. These numbers are not looking good. I suppose that when nothing can be done, compiling data is the only alternative. I didn't choose the subject of homelessness on a whim. It's undeniably a fact, one that's always there and in my face, so to speak. It's an obstacle, one that is not moving, not going away, and not cooperating. I finally had to admit it's dishonest to ignore it. Long gone are the idyllic days of “art for art's sake.” Now, art's a crime scene. From the report:
May 12, 2023
New Public Health Report Shows Sharp Rise in Mortality Among People Experiencing Homelessness
Increase Driven by Fentanyl-Related Deaths, Traffic Deaths, and Homicides
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has released its fourth annual report on mortality among people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. The mortality rate, which accounts for the total number of people experiencing homelessness each year, increased by 55%, from 2,056 per 100,000 in 2019 to 3,183 per 100,000 in 2021, the most recent years of data analyzed in this report.
In 2019, 1,289 people experiencing homelessness died. This number increased to 1,811 in 2020 and 2,201 in 2021.
Leading causes of death
Drug overdose was, as in 2019, the leading cause of death for people experiencing homelessness, accounting for 37% of all deaths among unhoused individuals in 2020 and 2021 combined —about two deaths per day on average. Drug overdose was also the largest driver of the overall increase in mortality for people experiencing homelessness, with the overdose mortality rate doubling from 2019 to 2021.
The second leading cause of death continues to be coronary heart disease, although the coronary heart disease mortality rate decreased in 2021 after increasing from 2017 to 2020. Coronary heart disease deaths accounted for 14% of all deaths among persons experiencing homelessness in 2020 and 2021 combined– about 5 deaths per week on average.
The third leading cause of death was traffic injuries, which increased by 47% from 2019 to 2021, accounting for 8% of all deaths of people experiencing homelessness in 2020 and 2021 combined —about 3 deaths per week on average.
The homicide rate, which has risen among people experiencing homelessness since 2017, increased by 49% in 2021 compared to the previous year. Homicides were the fourth leading cause of death in 2020 and 2021—about 2 deaths per week on average.
COVID-19, the second leading cause of death for all residents in LA County in 2020 and the leading cause of death in 2021, was the fifth leading cause of death among people experiencing homelessness for both of those years.
Overdose deaths
Overdose mortality rates are higher among white people experiencing homelessness than Black and Latinx people experiencing homelessness, and higher among male versus female people experiencing homelessness. From 2019 to 2020 overdose rates increased substantially across all three racial/ethnic groups and among both men and women, but 2021 saw a continued sharp rise only among white people experiencing homelessness and male people experiencing homelessness. In contrast, the overdose mortality rate among Black people experiencing homelessness slowed in 2021 and leveled off among Latinx and female people experiencing homelessness.
Fentanyl has been the drug type driving overdose deaths since the start of the pandemic, with the percentage of overdose deaths involving fentanyl almost tripling from 20% in 2019 to 58% in 2021. Fentanyl deaths almost always involved combinations of drugs. In 2021, 71% of all fentanyl deaths among people experiencing homelessness also involved methamphetamine.
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To view the full report online visit publichealth.lacounty.gov/chie.
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