Columbus homeless population is larger than ever, and officials expect it to grow

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Homelessness in Columbus set a new record this year and experts with the Community Shelter Board (CSB) expect numbers to grow higher with the housing crisis.

Data from the Franklin County Coroner’s Office shows overdose deaths is the largest crisis facing people who are homeless. The office has seen 212 deaths relating to drugs since 2021.

So far this year, the trend is more promising than in past years. Drug-related deaths in homeless individuals are down 15% compared with this time last year.

The Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County (ADAMH) said it is investing in programs to keep this number down, including one that puts Narcan in libraries and COTA stops. This has saved 30 lives since 2021.

"We have been pushing through the years many different efforts, whether it's increasing access to naloxone, harm reduction supplies and things like that to contribute to that reduction," McKayla Elliot, ADAMH SOR manager, said. "However, we still are seeing, unfortunately, a spike in the African-American male population of overdoses."

She said this means the work is far from over, especially as there are stark disparities among different race and age groups.

CSB representatives said the average life expectancy for someone experiencing homelessness is up to 21 years lower than for someone who is not. Looking at data on homeless individuals who have died since 2021, 27% were people in their 30s and 20% were in their 40s.

"The average life expectancy of someone experiencing homelessness is between 50 years and 56 years, compared to 71-81 years for the general population. So it's a huge disparity and should be really concerning to us all," CSB Chief Program Effectiveness Officer Steve Skovensky said. 

Experts are also concerned about deaths caused by the cold. CSB said unsheltered homelessness is expected to increase by 68% over the next three years. That means more people will be at the mercy of the elements.

The Franklin County Coroner’s Office has seen 323 deaths total in the homeless population since 2021, 47 of which happened this year. These are just the deaths that come into the coroner’s office.

"I certainly think that there are more," Skovensky said. "You know, every year the Coalition for the Homeless has a memorial honoring all the people who died experiencing homelessness. And that number seems to have gotten larger every year." 

Deaths from hypothermia and cold exposure are happening in months you’d expect: November, December and January. There were even some deaths in March.

"The warming centers run from Dec. 1 through the end of March. Additional beds will be added in the general shelter system when the temperature hits 32 degrees and really consistently is there," Skovensky said. 

This winter, the community shelter board expects to see a high demand, and Skovensky said last year's number of sheltered people was higher than in previous winters.

"We see it all the time. I saw it when I worked at Mount Carmel. There would be people that had gotten frostbite," Heer to Serve Founder Emily Myers said. 

Heer to Serve is a mutual aid group working to support people in Columbus without housing. Myers has spent the last year and a half working to get just 14 people into housing.

"It has definitely been a fight," she said. "There's not a lot of permanent housing."

The most recent count of homeless individuals showed more than 2,000 in need of permanent homes, which experts said comes down to a shortage of affordable housing.

"We're definitely seeing more demand than we've ever seen before," Skovensky said. 

CSB expects to have information about warming shelters out next month.