Deaths in the homeless population have sky-rockered over the last decade in Orange County, California, primarily due to drug-related overdoses from fentanyl, according to a Feb. 27 report from county law enforcement.
In light of increasing homeless deaths in the region, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes last year created the county’s first committee to analyze their numbers and causes.
The report released this week is the first from the committee.
According to the report, homeless deaths rose from 85 in 2010 to nearly 400 in 2021, the latest year included in the report, of which over 75 percent were drug-related, mostly involving fentanyl.
The majority of deaths—85 percent—were males….