Drugs and alcohol are killing homeless people in King County, according to a new analysis of five years’ of data from the Medical Examiner’s Office, prompting officials to call for increased access to low-barrier treatment programs.
The report found that 30 percent of deaths investigated by the Medical Examiner’s Office of people presumed to be homeless were related to drug overdoses. Opioids make up the majority of those deaths, but methamphetamine overdoses have been steadily rising in recent years.
Expansion of primary care for people experiencing homelessness as well as integration of health services into the street, shelter and housing outreach system could reduce mortality as well, the report suggests.
The majority of people in the analysis were White men, but Black and Indigenous people were highly over represented in the death statistics — 14 percent of those identified were Black and 8 percent were Indigenous, despite those populations representing 6.2 and .07 percent of King County’s population in 2016, respectively.
Homeless deaths referred to the Medical Examiner’s Office have been on the rise since 2014, lining up with a staggering increase in the number of unsheltered homeless people counted during the annual homeless census. The number of unsheltered homeless has more than doubled since 2012.
Ashley Archibald is a Staff Reporter covering local government, policy and equity. Have a story idea? She can be can reached at ashleya (at) realchangenews (dot) org. Twitter @AshleyA_RC
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