Deaths among people experiencing homelessness in Quebec increased by about 180 per cent between 2020 and 2024, according to new research from the Université de Sherbrooke.
Researchers recorded 400 deaths over the four-year period, including 127 in 2024 compared with 45 in 2020. Montreal had the highest death rate per capita, followed by the Outaouais region.
“Numbers like those are very striking. I think it may help better prioritize what we need to do to help people who experience homelessness,” said David-Martin Milot, a public-health physician and professor at the Université de Sherbrooke.
Milot says the actual numbers are likely higher because not every death is investigated by the coroner.
“Some people who are homeless have a chronic condition that is exacerbated, which brings them to the hospital and then they die at the hospital,” he explained. “(These cases) won’t be investigated by the coroner, so some of the deaths we don’t have (in the study).”
Deaths among unhoused women increased by 211 per cent, compared with 175 per cent among men. Researchers also found that women experiencing homelessness die much younger, with an average life expectancy of about 42 years, compared with 84 years for women with stable housing.