LOS ANGELES, California — Homeless people are dying in the doorways of storefronts on the streets of L.A. amid a nationwide surge in deaths among the homeless population in the midst of a cold and stormy winter.
Deaths within the homeless population rose in many U.S. cities in 2022. In Reno, Nevada, for example, the number of homeless deaths doubled in 2022 from the year before; Seattle and King County saw the highest number of homeless deaths in two decades, at 270 people.
Forensic assistant Laurentiu Bigu, left, and investigator Ryan Parraz from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office cover the body of a homeless man found dead on a sidewalk in Los Angeles, Monday, April 18, 2022. The 60-year-old man died from the effects of methamphetamine, according to his autopsy report. Nearly 2,000 homeless people died in the city from April 2020 to March 2021, a 56% increase from the previous year, according to a report released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Overdose was the leading cause of death, killing more than 700. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Though the immediate causes of death vary, from exposure to COVID, one cause is drug overdoses. There were nearly 108,000 deaths from drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2021, many caused by the spread of lethal fentanyl.
Some critics of current homelessness policies argue that drugs are being overlooked as a cause of the deaths.
The Karen Bass body count off to a grim start as multiple bodies of homeless people were found in front of various businesses across LA this week. #1 cause of death for homeless people on the streets of LA is overdose yet they keep telling us it’s a housing problem. 📷 @angnews pic.twitter.com/7jBDChb4R3
— STREET PEOPLE OF LOS ANGELES (@streetpeopleLA) January 4, 2023
Deaths are partly caused by cold conditions: five homeless people died in one recent cold snap in Seattle, for example. But even warm-weather cities are seeing a shocking rise in homeless deaths
The San Diego Union-Tribune recently reported that the city saw a record 574 homeless deaths in 2022, up 7% from the year before — and 39% from 2020. It added that the true number of homeless deaths was likely higher.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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