Toronto saw an average of more than three deaths per week among people experiencing homelessness last year, totaling almost 200 deaths.

New data from Toronto Public Health shows that drug toxicity is  by far the leading cause of death for unhoused individuals,  responsible for nearly half of the reported deaths in that population.

Men accounted for 77 % of homeless deaths and the age group with the highest percentage of deaths was people aged 40 to 59.

The new data finds  the number of deaths among unhoused people declined by  223 in 2021, but remained higher than yearly totals between 2017 and 2020.