The number of homeless Ontarians who have died from opioid overdoses has jumped by a staggering rate.
A new study by researchers at Western University found one in six opioid-related deaths in the province in 2021 were among people living on the streets. That is considerably higher than the one in 14 homeless people who lost their life to an opioid overdose in 2017.
“On average, that’s one homeless individual losing their life to an opioid overdose every day, one year into the COVID-19 pandemic,” said study lead author and Associate Professor Richard Booth. “Unhoused people are overrepresented among opioid-related deaths, and the situation has reached a critical point following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The study is one of the first to track the continuous rise in overdose deaths among Ontario's homeless.
Over the four year timeframe of the study, researchers determined unhoused individuals who died from an opioid overdose were often younger - between the ages of 25 and 44 - lived in major urban centres, and were more likely to have accessed mental health and substance abuse supports than housed individuals who died. Researchers also found homeless people were more often in the presence of a bystander and had resuscitation attempts or naloxone administered at the time of overdose.
For the study, researchers examined Ontario coroner and health record data from July 2017 to June 2021. Of the 6,644 people who died from an opioid overdose during that time period, 884 were identified as homeless.
Researchers believe disruptions to support services during the pandemic, an increasingly more potent drug supply, and Ontario's affordable housing shortage contributed to the increase.
“Lack of housing can influence people’s patterns of substance use, which can introduce considerable risk for people accessing Ontario’s highly potent, unpredictable illicit drug supply,” said Tara Gomes, a senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences who also contributed to the study. “Access to low-barrier housing should be a central strategy paired with improved accessibility to treatment and harm reduction services tailored to the needs of people experiencing homelessness.”
It was also noted in the study, that the true number of opioid overdose deaths among the homeless could be higher due to challenges assessing a person's housing status at the time of death. Researchers said Ontario has a "hidden" homeless population made up of people who live with inadequate housing or avoid using homelessness supports and services.
The study was recently published in the journal Addiction.
