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Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said, “The opioid crisis is both exacerbating the homelessness problem in Philadelphia and increasing the number of homeless people who die of drug overdoses. The health department is working with many other City agencies to reduce the number of people who become addicted and help those who are addicted – homeless or not – begin drug treatment.”
https://www.phila.gov/2019-12-19-opioid-crisis-fueling-increase-in-philadelphia-homeless-deaths/
Inquirer
And most deaths in the city’s homeless population were due to overdoses, Hersh said. That’s a sea change from just a few years ago. Between 2009 and 2015, about 37% of deaths among the homeless population were from overdoses. Between 2016 and 2018, overdoses accounted for 59% of such deaths.
The Philadelphia Health Department has compiled some grim statistics about homeless deaths in the city over the last decade.
From 2009 though 2018, the number of deaths among Philadelphia’s homeless population has tripled, largely because of an increase in the number of overdose deaths.
By Pat Loeb
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 