88 Homeless People Died In King County In 2017: Map

SEATTLE, WA - Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development show that King County has the third-highest number of homeless people in the U.S. Only Los Angeles and New York City have more homeless. Along with such a high concentration, the area sees a large share of homeless deaths.

2017 has been a particularly deadly year for the homeless in the region. Eighty-eight have died compared to 69 in 2016. Ninety-one died in 2015.

Locally, the WHEEL/Women In Black group keeps track of all the homeless people who die in a given year, either from exposure living outside, natural causes, drug overdoses, or murder. Patch used data from that group to create a map of all the King County homeless deaths in 2017. The average age of those who died was 45, and a majority died in Seattle.

Eight of the deaths were due to suicide, another 9 were murdered, and 13 died from a heroin overdose. (Average age of those who overdosed on heroin: 43. The youngest was 24, the oldest was 71.)

Four died of hypothermia, and another five likely died after being hit by a car.

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Image by Neal McNamara/Patch