Kitchener Today: Lack of housing leading to increase in overdose deaths

KITCHENER – A lack of stable housing is leading to more and more drug overdose deaths across the region.

“We know that across Ontario, approximately one out of six of the opioid-related fatalities were among people who did not have stable housing,” said Michael Parkinson, the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council’s drug strategy specialist.

“We know that drug poisoning fatalities disproportionately affect lower income neighbourhoods.”

He said so far this year, 80 people have died of a drug overdose in Waterloo Region. Compare that to the 20 people died in motor vehicle crash across the region last year — and compare it to the SARS epidemic, when 44 people died across Canada in total.

“So what we have not seen is the same kind of urgent and proportional response that we see with other important, but less common forms of death and injury, whether it is motor vehicle collisions or SARS — and the data reflects that. Those trend lines continue to escalate and go the wrong way.”

He said people who lack stable housing are at greatest risk of dying from drug poisoning.

“A gentleman who had passed away from drug poisoning — he wasn’t the only one. In the last five days or so, Waterloo Region, Wellington County and Guelph have lost a total of eight people to accidental poisoning.

“There is no sign that this is going to slow down soon enough for anyone.”

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