PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The number of people who died while living on the street in 2021 was the highest recorded in Multnomah County since the county began tracking it in 2011, according to a report released Wednesday.
For the last several years, the Multnomah County Health Department and Street Roots has released the Domicile Unknown report which tracks the number of homeless deaths investigated by the medical examiner.
In 2021, the county recorded 193 people died while experiencing homelessness while 126 died the year prior.
Despite this jump, officials say the overall proportion of homeless deaths has remained steady over the last six years.
The county says drugs was a major contributing factor in the deaths of these people. Nearly half of the deaths are being attributed to meth use and 36 connected with fentanyl overdoses.
Homicides also played a large part in the deaths, with violence killing 18 people on Multnomah County streets.
Another factor that contributed to homeless deaths was severe weather. During the winter months, eight people experiencing homelessness died from hypothermia. Then in June of 2021, the Heat Dome event led to the death of four people and contributed to the death of a fifth.
“It’s a life that’s based not only on survival, but surviving that survival: People reach for ways to endure,’’ Kaia Sand, executive director of Street Roots, wrote in the report’s introduction.
Homeless deaths accounted for an estimated 10% of all investigations conducted by the medical examiner.