{"id":17758,"date":"2021-12-27T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-27T14:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=17758"},"modified":"2022-10-09T05:58:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T09:58:22","slug":"tragic-preventable-death-toll-of-homeless-angelenos-reaches-over-1500-in-one-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/tragic-preventable-death-toll-of-homeless-angelenos-reaches-over-1500-in-one-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragic: Preventable Death Toll of Homeless Angelenos Reaches Over 1,500 in One Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Homelessness is\u00a0<\/span>on the rise<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in every corner of the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Living on the streets is a desolate circumstance nobody should have to endure. But there is something worse: dying on those very same streets under the weight of that desolate circumstance, without a home, without a name, without a legacy. Every life lost as a result of conditions related to homelessness could be described as a preventable tragedy.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were nearly 1,500 of those in LA alone this year, a staggering figure that experts claim is likely an undercount.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Overview of the Study: We Do Not Forget<\/h3>\n

A\u00a0<\/span>2020-2021 study released by UCLA<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on December 1, 2021, found that at least 1,493 Los Angeles deaths were the lost lives of unhoused individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n

One might read that and assume the data was collected on the authority of local government, with the end goal of obtaining firm data and approaching the homeless crisis with better solutions. Further scrutiny reveals that nothing could be further from the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

As it turns out, this study was the collective effort of a group of researchers acting on behalf of Unhoused Tenants Against Carceral Housing and in response to what they called “a militarized police invasion of Echo Park Lake.”<\/span><\/p>\n

This joint scholastic endeavor represents activists’ and academics’ work while echoing the voices of LA’s 70,000 unhoused individuals, collectively known as UTACH.\u00a0<\/span>In other words, this research would not have reached the public if it were not for a movement led by LA’s unhoused community, who turned academic attention in the direction of their fatal plight.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1,493 Deaths in LA’s Homeless Community Statistic: How the Data was Collected<\/h3>\n

Collecting data was no easy feat. Coroner data is wrought with limitations, while data specific to unhoused fatality is collected internally and not made readily available for public perusal. This means the After Echo Park Lake research collective had to painstakingly sift through thousands of documents seeking out deaths that were “sudden, violent, or unusual” and that happened in locations most frequented by unhoused individuals. Examples of such locations include deaths that took place:<\/span><\/p>\n