Homeless deaths in Northern Interior up by almost 50%

The number of people experiencing homelessness who died in the region that includes Prince George rose by almost 50 per cent from 2022 to 2023, according to a new report from the BC Coroners Service.

On Friday, March 7 the BC Coroners Service released a report studying the number of people experiencing homelessness who died between January 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2023.

The report defines people experienced homelessness as those living unsheltered in a place not intended for habitation, those temporarily sheltered at a place like a shelter, safe house for youth, transitional housing for women and children fleeing violence or a friend’s house and those residing in those forms of short-term housing for an unknown length fo time.

That report shows that in 2023, a total of 458 people experiencing homelessness died in BC, a 23 per cent jump from 2022 and almost three times the number who died in 2020.

The majority of the deaths in 2023, 394, are classified as accidental, due to the toxicity of unregulated drugs. That represents 86 per cent of the total deaths of people experiencing homelessness. A total of 91 per cent of the deaths are considered accidental.

Of the total number of deceased people, 79 per cent were male.

It also breaks down that total into health service delivery areas. Prince George is in the Northern Interior health service delivery area, which also includes much of the rest of the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, Quesnel, Burns Lake and Vanderhoof.

That breakdown shows that 28 people in Northern Interior experiencing homelessness died in 2023, compared to 19 in 2022, 17 in 2021, 11 in 2020, five in 2019, 13 in 2018, 10 in 2017 and six in 2016.

“The data speaks to the tragic reality of the struggles many face in our communities throughout BC,” chief coroner Dr. Jatinder Baidwan said in a media release. “During the period studied, between 2016 and 2023, the deaths of 1,940 people were reported to the BC Coroners Service, identified as experiencing homelessness.”

The release states that the rates in the report should be interpreted with caution as the coroners service does not investigate all deaths of people experiencing homelessness “and the number of deaths within the report excludes individuals experiencing homelessness that did not meet the legal criteria of the Coroners Act for reporting.

It also notes that the data is preliminary and subject to change as investigations conclude.