Deaths due to homelessness in Edmonton up by 70 per cent last year: advocacy group

Nearly as many Edmontonians died due to homelessness in 2021 than in the prior two years combined, representing a yearly increase of nearly 70 per cent, according to numbers from a homeless advocacy group.


© Provided by Edmonton JournalA homeless encampment on 106 Avenue near 99 Street in downtown Edmonton on Friday April 22, 2022.

Matthew Black - EDMONTON JOURNAL

Figures from the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH) indicate 222 identified people died due to homelessness in 2021. The group also deemed homelessness to be a significant factor in the deaths of a further 30 unidentified individuals, 20 men and 10 women.

The rise continues a recent increasing trend, but also represents the sharpest jump over that time period, with 132 deaths in 2020, 99 deaths in 2019, and 96 deaths in 2018.

“Too often people die much too young when they are in such circumstances. The alarming increase in deaths is terrible and should call us to action,” said Susan Watson.

Watson is organizing a public memorial for Wednesday afternoon that will honour those who died in the past three years after the pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020 and 2021.

“This has always been a painful event,” she said. “No one should see their life cut short because they have been without safe, healthy housing.”

ECOHH says it identifies those who have died due homelessness with the help of frontline organizations that work with individuals struggling for housing security.

It says the count includes those who it determines would have not died as soon if they had been in adequate housing as well as a much smaller number of cases where individuals died on the streets.

© Provided by Edmonton JournalDeaths due to homelessness in Edmonton up by 70 per cent last year: advocacy group

ECOHH numbers state 453 identified people have died due to homelessness in Edmonton over 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The figures skew heavily towards men, with just over two-thirds of those deaths being of males.

Last year saw deaths recorded in those aged under 20 for the first time in at least two years. Seventeen people in their twenties died, up from 12 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.

The group says 1,255 identified people have now died over the past 17 years with homelessness as a significant factor.

There were about 50 deaths in identified individuals each year until 2016, when the number of deaths spiked to more than 100, according to ECOHH numbers.

Since the memorial was first held in 2005, 802 people have been remembered at the service.

This year’s event will be held Wednesday at Homeless Memorial Plaza located north of City Hall on 103A Avenue at 100 Street, starting at 2 p.m.

“The memorial service is a time to grieve the people — our family, friends, neighbours — who are no longer with us, a time to gather together in our sorrow and support each other in our losses,” said organizer Jim Gurnett.

“But we need to be leaving the event asking what can be done to end this shameful reality in our city.”

mblack@postmedia.com

Twitter: @ByMatthewBlack