record 193 homeless people died in Oregonof Multnomah County, home of portlandIn 2021, there is a 53% increase over the previous year, according to a new county report released Wednesday.
The report found that substances contributed to about 60% of those deaths, reflecting trends seen across the country.
As of 2020, methamphetamine was the most common drug in the county’s fatalities. But the largest increases were seen in the number of deaths from fentanyl and the combination of opioids and meth.
“Polysubstances, meth and fentanyl are the major takeaways,” said county health officer Jennifer Vines.
“For a long time, we imagined that fentanyl was the kind of drug contaminant that people would accidentally stumble upon, and that it would be something that could move through the drug supply,” he said during a news conference. ” “What we weren’t prepared for was the use of fentanyl as the only drug that became cheap, that became highly available, and that is so potent and short-acting that people actually develop an addiction.” and seek the medicine themselves.”
Compared to 2020, the number of homeless deaths from fentanyl increased more than eightfold, from four to 36. The number of deaths from combined opioid and meth use increased from 27 to 47.
However, meth remained the deadliest drug overall. It was involved in 93 deaths – 82% of fatalities – continuing the trend from 2020.
County health officials said they have had difficulty responding to the spike in meth use because there is no drug that can reverse a meth overdose, the way naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose.
“It’s been really tough and really scary,” said Haven Wheelock, program supervisor for Outside Inn, a Portland-based nonprofit that provides addiction and homelessness services. “For many years, having these conversations and talking about overdose deaths as a public health crisis and homelessness as a crisis has been an uphill battle.”
The report relies on the findings of medical examiners, who investigate non-natural deaths, including deaths caused by suspicious or unknown circumstances, such as homicide and suicide, and injuries and accidents such as overdoses. For this reason, county health officials said the number of reported deaths is likely an underestimate.
The number of homeless people who died by homicide in 2020 more than doubled to a new high of 18, accounting for nearly 10% of all homeless deaths. The majority involved guns. The increase tracks with a citywide trend in Portland, which has reported record homicides over the past two years amid a rise in gun violence.
The report found that extreme weather events were another notable factor in homeless deaths. Four people died during the devastating summer 2021 “Heat Dome” and eight people died from hypothermia during the winter months.
Although 2021 was the first full year of the pandemic, only two homeless deaths were identified as being due to COVID-19. But the report says this figure is an underestimate, as medical examiners do not investigate deaths of people admitted to the hospital 24 hours before a natural death. No COVID-19 deaths were identified by medical examiners in 2020.