Homeless people are dying at extraordinarily high rates in British Columbia, according to the latest grim statistics from the BC Coroners Service.
Authorities counted 175 deaths of homeless people in B.C. in 2016, an increase of 140 per cent over 2015 when 73 homeless people died.
From 2007 to 2016, 55 homeless people died each year on average.
More than half of the 175 deaths in 2016 – 53 per cent – were the result of accidental drug or alcohol poisoning.
Drugs and alcohol accounted for the largest growth in deaths among the homeless population in 2016, after accounting for just 34 per cent of homeless deaths between 2007 and 2015.
The regions with the highest number of deaths among the homeless population from 2007 to 2016 were Vancouver (43), Surrey (17), Victoria (16) and Kelowna (10).
Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health accounted for 59 per cent of all B.C. homeless deaths in the same time period.
From 2007 to 2016, 85 per cent of homeless people who died were men and 54 per cent of all homeless deaths occurred between the ages of 40 and 59 years old.
Fifty-six per cent of homeless deaths were considered accidental, 23 per cent were natural and 11 per cent were deaths by suicide.
