Reporter
In Santa Clara County, homeless deaths are skyrocketing while the homeless population has not substantially changed.
“If we really cared, we would be getting the housing,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, a professor at UCSF. “Everything else follows.”
Marie is just one of the more than 1,100 homeless people over two decades who have succumbed to illness and accidents, suicide and violence in Santa Clara County, according to data provided by the county’s medical examiner.
This story is the first in a series exploring the deaths of homeless people in Santa Clara County — who the victims were, how they died and what might be done to save the lives of people few may remember.
One by one, elected officials and others stepped somberly to the microphone in a cheerless homeless shelter in San Jose to read the names of the dead: Michael Guilford. Dean Rowland. John Doe. The list stretched on.
