Item - 2018.HL26.2

The Board of Health:

1.  Directed the Medical Officer of Health to work with the Chief Executive Officers of the five Toronto Local Health Integration Networks to determine the feasibility and coordination of information sharing between Toronto Public Health and Toronto hospitals on the deaths of persons experiencing homelessness while in hospital care.

2.  Directed the Medical Officer of Health to routinely provide updated homeless death data to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the General Manager, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, and the Director, Affordable Housing, to inform current housing and shelter programming and planning initiatives, as well as the development of new strategies, including the 10-year Housing Opportunities Toronto Action Plan (2020-2030).

3.  Directed that a copy of the report (April 6, 2018) from the Medical Officer of Health be forwarded to the Chief Executive Officers of the five Toronto Local Health Integration Networks, the Population Health Solutions Lab, Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, the Chief Coroner for Ontario, the Council of Medical Officers of Health, and the Association of Local Public Health Agencies.

The Supervisor, Health Status and Epidemiology, Toronto Public Health, gave a presentation on Deaths of People Experiencing Homelessness in Toronto.

Prior to 2017, the official monitoring of deaths among people experiencing homelessness was limited to registered City-run shelter residents. To gain a better understanding of this issue, Toronto Public Health (TPH) developed a system to capture the deaths of people experiencing homelessness, both inside and outside the City shelter system.

Data collection began on January 1, 2017 and, between January 1 and December 31, the deaths of 100 people experiencing homelessness were reported to TPH. Most deaths occurred indoors, the majority of these deaths were male, and the median age of death was 48 years. The leading known causes of death were drug overdose, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

This report is in response to the Board of Health's direction to report back with year-end results for 2017. It provides a summary of the key findings as well as influences and risk factors related to deaths among people experiencing homelessness.