DHHS report: Homeless mortality is 10x higher than average population

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The homeless are dying at a 10 times higher rate than the rest of the population here in Utah. That’s according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services.

This is the first report of its kind in the state and DHHS believes they are only the second state to do this.

The report provides some color into the cause of the higher death rate to potentially inform a course of action on the policy level.

The report says the average age of death for someone who is unhoused is 56 years old. That’s compared to the rest of the population at 72 years old.

The main causes they found were chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes to drug-related deaths.

“It’s a limitation of our report. We didn’t have many boots on the ground talking to actual people who are experiencing homelessness. We partnered with our COCs in the state, with four street clinics, with the office of homeless services, but our research team wasn’t on the street.” Tyler Riesdesel, an epidemiologist with Utah DHHS said.

Some of the solutions they proposed in this report are to increase housing and healthcare access, increase harm reduction resources, and get all the providers together in the same place. UHC, Medicare, and Medicaid along with access to primary care could make a difference.

There are clinics in the state, but they see the unhoused going to the ER when there is an emergency.

Another concern came with people aged 25 to 44.

“People between the ages of 25 and 44 who were experiencing homelessness had 22 times the rate of death when compared to the same age people in the general population,” the release states.

“These recommendations are all aimed at reducing preventable deaths in those experiencing homelessness and include things like the development of housing options and low barrier primary healthcare and substance use treatment service options,” Dr. Leisha Nolen, DHHS state epidemiologist said in the release

The DHHS’s goal is to work to understand the circumstances that are contributing to these deaths and to try and prevent further fatalities in the future.

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