A new report by the BC Coroners Service is highlighting the rising number of homeless people dying on the streets of B.C.
According to the report, 175 homeless people died in 2016 – compared to only 73 the year before. In those cases, drug and alcohol poisoning is the primary contributor.
More than half the deaths were as a result of drugs or alcohol that year, while 86 per cent of accidental deaths were caused by the two.
Comparatively, between 2007 and 2015, drugs and alcohol poisoning made up only 63 per cent of accidental deaths, and 34 per cent of total deaths.
This comes two days after new data released by the coroners service which shows since 2012, fentanyl has become increasingly prevalent in the province's illicit drug supply, resulting in more fatalities.
The same report also showed drug overdose deaths where fentanyl is not detected have remained “relatively stable” since 2011 – an average of 285 deaths per year.
Another disturbing similarity between the two reports: 85 per cent of homeless people who died were men, nearly parallel to the 83 per cent of people dying from illicit drug overdoses.
The province averaged 55 deaths per year between 2007 and 2016 of people the coroners service defines as homeless.
The Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions accounted for nearly 60 per cent of homeless deaths in the same span.
That definition includes people with no fixed address, if the site of the injury or death was a homeless shelter or if the "circumstances of death suggested homelessness."
It does not include people who don't have a permanent residence but are staying somewhere temporarily and paying rent, nor people in correction institutions, hospitals or substance abuse treatment facilities.
The report also states it’s not always possible to "determine a person’s housing status" and that "such data may be underreported."
A full version of the report can be read here.
