More than 200 homeless people died in Sacramento County last year. What we know about them
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Homeless Deaths in Sacramento
According to a Sacramento Bee analysis, at least 195 homeless men, women and children died in 2021 in Sacramento County, a county that continues to struggle to care for its most vulnerable. That number is significantly higher than the previous record, set in 2018, when 140 homeless people died
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More than 200 homeless people died in Sacramento County last year. What we know about them
Editor’s Note: This article was updated in September 2022 with additional names from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
At least 227 homeless men, women and children died in 2021 in Sacramento County, a Sacramento Bee analysis found. That number is significantly higher than the previous record, set in 2018, when 140 homeless people died, according to Sacramento County Coroner’s Office records.
The total for last year includes roughly 199 people who the coroner believed were homeless at the time of their deaths, but some investigations are still ongoing. Another 28 were not reported as homeless deaths by the coroner. However, family members, friends and homeless advocates told The Bee they were homeless when they died.
Some made it to the hospital. Others perished in their tents, RVs, in hotels, fields and in shelters. Three men died in church parking lots. One man died in Cesar Chavez Plaza, across the street from City Hall. Another man died in the parking lot of the Sacramento Veterans Resource Center.
In order to memorialize them so they are not forgotten, the Bee compiled daily reports from the Coroner’s Office and supplemented them by reaching out to the homeless community and family members of the deceased. Learn more about that process at the bottom of the story.
Database of homeless deaths
Use the map to see who died and where. In cases where the death location was unknown, the location where they lived was used. Click the dot to learn their name, age, race/ethnicity, and a little bit about their personality. The same information, along with the photographs The Bee was able to gather, is available under the map as a list — which can be searched and sorted.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHow we did this story
The Sacramento Bee’s Theresa Clift received daily reports from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office throughout the year.
Those reports contained the names of people who died the day before whom the coroner believed were homeless. Clift then went to the scene to see if anyone camping there knew the person.
Clift’s reporting didn’t end there. She also gave the names of the deceased to homeless activists and service providers to see if anyone knew them. She reached out to many family members and friends on social media. In cases where the death was not considered a homeless death by the coroner, Clift did extensive interviews, usually with multiple people, to make sure the person was not living in housing at the time they died.
“Thank you to everyone who helped me with this special report throughout the year,” Clift said. “I hope it provides a meaningful memorial for the nearly 200 unhoused men, women and children we lost in Sacramento in 2021.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
