SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Eight homeless people froze to death in Sacramento last year – the highest number in at least two decades.
The seven men and one woman ranged in age from 41 to 63. All of them began experiencing hypothermia while outside. One died across the street from City Hall. Another near Arden Fair mall. And another next to an elementary school.
Four of them died within a roughly one-week span, just days before Christmas. Those details are documented in an annual report by the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, based on its review of data compiled by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
The eight people who died of hypothermia were among the 199 homeless people who died last year, according to the report. That number is the highest in the two decades the organization has been producing the report. Homeless people died from hypothermia at a rate that was 215% higher than the general county population, the report found.
Activists say that homeless deaths from weather-related causes, hypothermia and heat stroke, are particularly disgraceful because they are attributable to a lack of action by government officials to get people indoors.
“It is shameful that the city and county have moved so slowly to prevent the untimely deaths of our unhoused neighbors,” said Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. “Instead of creating more shelter, affordable housing and treatment on demand, they have passed ordinances to continue to criminalize people experiencing homelessness.”
During a major storm in January 2021, the city and county received criticism for not opening homeless warming centers. The city afterward started opening a handful of warming centers more often, but none were open 24/7. This month the city plans to open a year-round 50-bed referral-only weather respite center for homeless people in North Sacramento for all but one hour a day. The county does not have plans to open a year-round warming center.
Erlenbusch urged city and county leaders to open many more warming centers before December, when nighttime temperatures will start dipping into the 30s.
“We need a minimum of 500 spaces for warming centers dispersed around the city,” Erlenbusch said. “With transportation and county services provided.”
About 9,300 are homeless Sacramento County on any given night, a federally-mandated count in January found, and up to 20,000 people will experience homelessness at some point this year. The city and county have opened about 2,400 shelter beds and spaces, but all are typically full on any given night.
Heat stroke did not cause any homeless deaths last year, according to the report. In 2020, heat strike contributed to the deaths of two homeless people.
Sacramento experienced record-breaking heat last week, hitting a high of 116. The coroner’s office will not determine whether the heat wave caused any heat stroke deaths for several months.
The highest cause of homeless deaths last year was substance use, at nearly 50%, mostly meth, alcohol and fentanyl, the report found. The second most common was injuries, including being hit by vehicles and trains, at 20%.
‘We were looking for him’
The Bee in January published profiles of homeless people who died in Sacramento County last year. The new report from Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness provides new information about how many of them died.
Ahmad J. Hamilton, 48, was among the eight who died by hypothermia. He was living outdoors near the Tower Bridge, and died at a hospital.
“He was the sweetest, gentle soul,” his cousin, Javlyn Woods, told The Bee in December. “He wrote music and poetry. He wouldn’t hurt a soul. We were looking for him since 2004.”
Michael Campo, 57, also died of hypothermia. He lived in a tent along the American River, and was “like family” with many of the other men and women who live there.
His friend, Sarah Reynolds, was surprised to learn he had frozen to death.
“Wow are you serious?” Reynolds, 57, said last week. “That’s terrible.”
Little is known about the other six people who died from hypothermia last year in Sacramento. They include:
▪ Kenneth Steele, 41, died of hypothermia on Jan. 3, 2021, while sleeping outdoors next to a south Sacramento elementary school.
▪ John Lain, 63, died of probable hypothermia at Cesar Chavez Plaza, across the street from City Hall, on Feb. 28, 2021. He had a son.
▪ Raymond Nash, 61, died of hypothermia at the hospital on March 18, 2021.
▪ An unidentified 62-year-old man died of hypothermia at the hospital on Dec. 18, 2021.
▪ Marcia J. Hegle, 57, died of hypothermia at the hospital on Dec. 22, 2021.
▪ Kenneth Donnelson, 61, died of hypothermia outdoors near Arden Fair mall between two banks on Dec. 22, 2021.
The eight people, along with the other 192, are not forgotten. They will be memorialized at a ceremony at 7 p.m. on Dec. 21 outside City Hall.
