A new report from the B.C.Coroners Service identified five individuals from the East Kootenay who died while experiencing homelessness in 2023.
Provincially, the B.C. Coroners Service reports 458 peopled died experiencing homelessness, reflecting a 23 per cent increase from 2022.
“The data speaks to the tragic reality of the struggles many face in our communities throughout B.C.,” said Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, chief coroner, in a press 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.”
Between 2016-2023, the B.C. Coroners Service reported 21 individuals who died experiencing homelessness in the East Kootenay.
The report defined an individual experiencing homelessness as a person living outdoors, in a make-shift shelter, a parked vehicle, a vacant home or any other structure not intended for habitation.
Further, sheltered was defined as a person staying at an emergency shelter (overnight) or who is temporarily sheltered (suspected to be for less than 30 days) by friends or family, in a short-term shelter, safe house for youth, or transition house for women and children fleeing violence; and persons residing in short-term shelters, safe houses, or transition houses for an unknown length of time.
Provincially, more than half of deaths reported in 2023 were people between the ages of 30 through 49, and 79 per cent were males. The data also shows that nearly half of those deaths were males who were unsheltered (47 per cent).
In 2023, 91 per cent of deaths of people experiencing homelessness were classified as accidental (419), and 86 per cent were due to accidental unregulated drug toxicity (394).
The highest proportion of deaths of people experiencing homelessness occurred in winter (28 per cent), followed by spring (27 per cent) in 2023;
The BC Coroners Service does not investigate all deaths of individuals 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.
Additionally, the data is preliminary and subject to change as coroners’ investigations conclude.