The number of deaths among homeless people in Los Angeles County jumped to 918 last year, according to an analysis published Wednesday.

This represents a 76 percent increase over the last five years, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of coroner reports. The analysis found that 3,612 homeless people died between 2014 and 2018 in the county.

Health authorities told KHN that substance abuse might be a cause for the increase in fatalities.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It is a combination of people who are living for a long time in unhealthy situations and who have multiple health problems,” Michael Cousineau, a professor at the University of Southern California. told the news outlet. “There are more complications, and one of those complications is a high mortality rate. It’s just a tragedy.”

Almost 53,000 L.A. County residents were homeless last year, according to a point-in-time count, 39 percent more than in 2014, although the total did decrease slightly since 2017. Only a quarter of the county's homeless population lived in a homeless shelter.

KHN reported that the number of people who are homeless has been increasing nationally, but that there is no national homeless count.