Deaths of People Experiencing Homelessness

Starting in January 2017, Toronto Public Health (TPH) began tracking the deaths of people experiencing homelessness to get a more accurate estimate of the number of deaths and their causes.  TPH leads the data collection, analysis and reporting. The Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) and health and social service agencies that support people experiencing homelessness share information about a death with TPH and the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario (OCCO) verifies some of the data.  For this data collection initiative, homelessness is defined as “the situation of an individual or family without stable, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it”.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Dataset Category Table
Refresh Rate Semi-annually
Collection Method
Excerpt These datasets include information related to the deaths of people experiencing homelessness in Toronto. This includes people living in shelters and respite centres, as well as people living outdoors or at other locations. Details include the number of deaths occurring per month and year, by age group, gender, and cause of death.
Limitations * This data reflects only deaths that are reported to TPH by SSHA, community partners and the Coroner’s Office. * Cause of death is unknown or pending in approximately 25% of the reported deaths. * In 2019, TPH ceased reporting on location of death as this information is often unknown or unverified. * The data does not identify Indigenous status as this is reported as unknown or missing in 70% of the reported cases. With this high a percentage of missing information, accurate conclusions cannot be drawn, as such, it is standard epidemiological practice to suppress the release of data. * Cause of death for transgender people not shown due to small counts. * Cause of death is unknown in approximately 25% of the reports. To protect privacy, causes of death with less than 2% of the cases are included in the Other category. * Data are subject to change should TPH receive additional reports or further information on existing reports. Previously published data may change due to delays in reporting. The most recently published data should be considered the most complete.
Owner Division Toronto Public Health
Owner Section Epidemiology and Data Analytics Unit
Owner Unit Health Status and Behaviour
Owner Email EDAU@toronto.ca
Author Email EDAU@toronto.ca
Maintainer Email EDAU@toronto.ca
Author EDAU@toronto.ca
Civic Issues
Formats
  • CSV
  • XML
  • JSON
Topics
  • Community services
  • Health
Source
Information URL https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/health-wellness-care/health-inspections-monitoring/
Image URL
Last Updated 2024-10-15 17:55:59.959931
Is Retired? False
Date Published 2023-05-15 08:30:15.983679