KTLA

More homeless Orange County residents died last year than any other, coroner says

Blankets and tents are seen at a homeless encampment along the Santa Ana river bed near Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California on Jan. 23, 2018.(FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Blankets and tents are seen at a homeless encampment along the Santa Ana river bed near Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California on Jan. 23, 2018.(FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped Orange County, homeless residents had few places to turn.

Shelters have faced coronavirus outbreaks and a lawsuit for sexual harassment and inhumane conditions. Project Roomkey, a statewide program that placed homeless Californians in hotel rooms, was called overly restrictive by advocates who said the hotels and shelters were being run like prisons.


As a result, more homeless people died in Orange County in 2020 than any other year, according to the coroner’s office.

The 330 deaths are a reminder that the pandemic has repeatedly struck the most vulnerable in the community. In 2019, just over 200 homeless people died in Orange County.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.