Homeless deaths in Los Angeles are on the rise due to addiction and lack of access to health care, according to Dr. Brett Feldman, director of Street Medicine at the University of Southern California.
Los Angeles County saw a 56 percent increase in homeless deaths from 2019 to 2020—from 1,271 in 2019 to 1,988 in 2020, according to a 2022 report by the L.A. County Health Department. Drug overdose—the leading cause of death over both years—also spiked by 78 percent according to the report.
