Santa Clara County homeless deaths dip slightly

Homeless deaths in Santa Clara County are down so far this year despite an opioid crisis and thousands of people living on the streets.

There have been 159 deaths as of Oct. 6, compared to 169 deaths during the same period last year, according to data from the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner.  One of the most significant decreases in the cause of death or contributing factor of death has to do with fentanyl. There have been 21 fentanyl-related deaths so far this year, compared to 51 deaths over the same time last year.

While county officials couldn’t pinpoint a reason for the slight dip in deaths, Dr. Sara Jeevanjee  said overdose deaths are trending down nationally.

Jeevanjee is the medical director of the Valley Homeless Healthcare Program that provides health care services to people experiencing homelessness, including addiction treatment. Along with its three San Jose locations, the program has medical buses that travel throughout the county and set up outside food kitchens and shelters.

“Our program has always been really focused on harm reduction and supporting individuals with substance use disorders and wherever they’re at,” Jeevanjee told San José Spotlight.

Jeevanjee said the program is one of the highest volume prescribers of buprenorphine, the medication used to treat opioid addiction, including fentanyl. They have a team that goes to various homeless camps multiple times a week to provide health services. They also pass out buprenorphine and naloxone, a medical antidote for opioid overdoses.

While naloxone is now more readily available in the county,  the homeless people who died of opioids this year also had other drugs in their system like methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine continues to be one of the largest causes or contributing factors to deaths among homeless people, though this year’s 51 meth-related deaths is a significant decrease from last year’s 96 meth-related deaths in the same time period.

Homeless people use meth because it allows them to be more alert and stay up at night to fend off attacks, advocate Shaunn Cartwright said. She hosts an annual memorial every year for homeless people who have died and tracks each death. There is a stigma associated with homeless people as drug addicts, she said, but often drugs are used as a way to cope with the mental and physical stressors of not being in a safe, stable environment.

“Especially if you’re a woman, you’re fending off sexual advances from housed and unhoused men,” Cartwright told San José Spotlight. “People tend to self-medicate and that’s the same for housed people.”

Cartwright said some drug deaths might be preventable if people had test strips to determine what might be added to the drug.

Many homeless people who died also have health conditions, such as cancer or a heart, liver or lung disease. More than 50 people who died this year were over the age of 60.

One key difference between last year’s deaths and this year has been the scorching weather, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees last week. There have been nine documented heat-related deaths so far this year — compared to zero last year. Communication about cooling centers often doesn’t reach homeless people, and it can be hard for someone without transportation to get to them.

There were six deaths last week during the heat wave, though the causes are still pending.
To investigate the cause of death, an investigator from the county medical examiner-coroner’s office will interview people living around the person that died, search the immediate area and find out the circumstances leading to death.

Kathryn Kaminski, acting director with the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing said her office will continue to  house as many people as possible so they aren’t exposed to the elements.  She said they are on track to house about 4,000 people this year.

“The county and partners have been working really hard to provide assistance both to prevent them from being homeless and to give them the resources they need to go into housing,” Kaminski told San José Spotlight.

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or follow @joyce_speaks on X, formerly known as Twitter.