The BC Coroners Service has determined that at least 458 unhoused British Columbians died in 2023, with 25% of those occurring on Vancouver Island.
These deaths reflect a drastic increase of 23% from the year prior in which 373 unhoused British Columbians passed away and is nearly three times higher than the number of unhoused people who died in 2020.
“The data speaks to the tragic reality of the struggles many face in our communities throughout BC,” said Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, Chief Coroner.
“During the period studied, between 2016 and 2023, the deaths of 1,940 people were reported to the BC Coroners Service, identified as experiencing homelessness.”
The BC Coroners Service published a report with these findings, with the criteria of an unhoused person being that they were living outdoors or staying in a shelter of some kind.
According to the report, deaths amongst the unhoused community in BC were higher for those between 30 and 49-years-old and 79% of them were men.
Additionally, nearly half of those deaths were of men who had no shelter of any kind, living outdoors.
The BC Coroners service says that 91% of the unhoused community’s deaths in 2023 were classified as accidental, with 86% being tied directly to toxic drug usage.
Of the 458 deaths in BC’s unhoused community, 394 were toxic drug deaths.
Additional notable findings from the BC Coroners Service’s report were that the highest proportion of deaths in unhoused British Columbians, 28%, took place in the winter and that the Fraser Health Authority had the most unhoused deaths of any region at 117.
Island Health saw the second most unhoused deaths in the region at 114 lives lost in 2023.
On Vancouver Island, the area most impacted was the central region with 55 deaths taking place in municipalities such as Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo and Tofino.
