Homeless Deaths Count is a community effort to collect comprehensive data on mortality among people experiencing homelessness across the United States.
Homeless Deaths Count has two simple goals:
- To count the number of people experiencing homelessness who die in the United States each year. No single U.S. government agency records how or when people experiencing homelessness die. We seek to collaborate with communities and organizations across the country to rectify this glaring gap in our knowledge.
- To remember the lives of persons who are often overlooked by society. People who die while experiencing homelessness are part of our community. They are parents, children, siblings, and valued community members. We want not only to quantify the scale of an overlooked problem, but to tell the stories of those who died. In doing so, we hope to honor their contribution and understand how future deaths might be prevented.
We believe that nobody should die without the dignity of a home. Homeless deaths should matter to us, and in particular to government, as much as deaths among those who are not experiencing homelessness. If we really believe that homeless deaths count, local, state, and federal governments must provide resources to record these deaths, understand the magnitude of the problem, and implement effective programs that prevent homelessness and adequately address the needs of people experiencing homelessness.