The Homeless Are Dying In Record Numbers On The Streets Of L.A.

(By Anna Gorman and Harriet Blair Rowan for California Healthline produced by Kaiser Health News)

A record number of homeless people — 918 last year alone — are dying across Los Angeles County, on bus benches, hillsides, railroad tracks and sidewalks.

Deaths have jumped 76% in the past five years, outpacing the growth of the homeless population, according to a KHN analysis of the coroner’s data.

Health officials and experts have not pinpointed a single cause for the sharp increase in deaths, but they say rising substance abuse may be a major reason. The surge also reflects growth in the number of people who are chronically homeless and those who don’t typically use shelters, which means more people are living longer on the streets with serious physical and behavioral health issues, they say.  Continue reading article here…

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.”

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