How many people experiencing homelessness have died from COVID-19?
Unfortunately, we don’t know. When a person experiencing homelessness dies, of any cause, their housing status is rarely recorded. As a result, to understand the scale of homeless deaths in the United States, we often rely on information provided by community advocates, shelters, homeless service agencies, journalists, and, occasionally, Medical Examiner Offices and coroners.
People experiencing homelessness have a very high susceptibility to symptomatic infection and mortality from COVID-19 due to their living circumstances and inability to access regular medical care. Before this pandemic, homeless deaths were in the many thousands each year. COVID-19 is likely to push the number of deaths significantly higher. Researchers estimate that COVID-19 could kill an additional 3,400 people experiencing homelessness.
Homeless Deaths Count is tracking deaths due to COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness. We’re starting by aggregating news reports on COVID-19 homeless deaths. You can find that information on our COVID-19 Homeless Deaths page. So far, at least 54 people experiencing homelessness have died from COVID-19 in just six localities: San Francisco, Denver, Miami-Dade County, New York City, Seattle, and Washington DC. These deaths are likely the tip of the iceberg.
In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be documenting the scale of homeless deaths. We’ve started by aggregating news reports, but are expanding our efforts by reaching out to community advocates, shelters, and public health departments. If you’d like to receive updates on our progress, please sign up to receive our monthly blog or follow us on Twitter.
If you would like to provide information not listed on this page or work with us to document COVID-19 homeless deaths, please contact us.