Ten homeless people were killed in Multnomah County in 2018 -- the highest number since the county started tracking these deaths eight years ago.

The number of deaths from homicidal violence doubled from the five recorded in 2015, which had previously been the highest on record.

The dramatic jump in homicides is only one driver in a year that saw 92 people, the largest number of people ever, dying on the streets of Portland -- as well as in hospital beds, vehicles, shelters and motels. Multnomah County pulls the data from the medical examiner’s office files, in partnership with nonprofit newspaper Street Roots.

Eight years of reports, known as Domicile Unknown, have consistently shown that homeless people tend to die young -- in their mid-to-late-40s for all genders. They are most likely to be outdoors. Black people die on the streets at a disproportionately higher rate.

Since 2011, the number of homeless people who die each year has grown steadily until it leveled off the last few years. In 2016, 80 were counted; in 2017, it was 79.

These counts are likely much lower than reality, because they are only ones that the medical examiner’s office investigated and could confirm were homeless at the time of death.

However, the climb indicates that the problems facing people who have no steady shelter from the elements can easily become fatal.

Two people died from hypothermia between October and March. The report does not indicate where they died.

Illnesses that all people face -- heart disease, diabetes and hypertension -- are exacerbated by typically unhygienic, unsafe and cold circumstances until they become a crisis.

“There are a lot of sick people out there,” said Street Roots Executive Director Kaia Sand. “This is about the urgency of coming in from the cold. This is about how lack of access to a shower makes small infections life-threatening. Lack of access to refrigeration and stable storage compromises the management of diabetes. This is about how hearts suffer too much until they stop, how bodies are torn up by violence and immune systems are ravaged by exhaustion.”

But drugs and alcohol continue to account for the largest factor in deaths of homeless people. In 2018, 53% of all deaths were caused by drugs, alcohol or some combination of both.

Methamphetamines jumped to the top of the list in a year when overall Oregon deaths from meth increased five times over. A report from the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program said that 77 people in Multnomah County died from meth use in 2018.

The county report says that 27 homeless people died from meth use alone, and 15 people died from using both meth and opioids.

Meth is cheaper and stronger than ever, according to law enforcement officials. Labs in Mexico and California have taken the place of those in Oregon, and the influx has particularly taken a toll on the community of people who live outside and try to stay awake at all times to make sure they are not robbed or beaten.

“If we‘re going to help people be successful in the face of a more potent and less expensive drug, we really need to be committed to making an investment in supportive recovery housing, expanding access to treatment and realigning our criminal justice system away from punishment and towards prevention and treatment,” said Andy Mendenhall, homeless services nonprofit Central City Concern's chief medical officer.

In the case of homicides, the county report noted that six homeless people were shot to death, while others were beaten, stabbed and strangled.

Street Roots, which employs poor and homeless people to sell its newspaper, shed new light on one particularly high profile and gruesome case.

Tyler Chism was found stabbed to death in late January near the Lan Su Chinese Garden. He had been arguing with his girlfriend when a man and woman approached them.

Timothy Cato, 59, is accused of using a sword to stab Chism to death and then leaving the scene. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and unlawful use of a weapon.

The Street Roots profile says that Cato pulled the sword from inside his cane, stabbed Chism through the chest, puncturing his lungs, liver and heart.

Street Roots also reported that one of its own was among the 10 homicides – a vendor who was strangled in the back of a van and wasn’t found until three days later.

“Until a person gets shelter or housing, they are subject to almost endless discomfort, from drenching rain and frigid nights to unwashed clothing, unmet personal needs and untreated medical conditions,” said Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury in a statement for the report. “And as if that is not terrible enough, they are also disproportionately victims of crime and violence, attacks that are often random and horrible. They’re vulnerable to theft of their belongings, to sexual assault and even homicide, as this 2018 report so starkly reveals.”

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com | 503-294-5923 | @MollyHarbarger

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