2,100 deaths in 10 years: how fentanyl is devastating Los Angeles’ unhoused community

A Guardian analysis of autopsy records reveals record-high overdoses in 2023. Harm reduction advocates are fighting to save lives on the streets

They died in parks, cars, motels, alleyways, bus stops, bathrooms and tents. Some collapsed on busy city streets, others in remote desert terrain. The oldest victim was 81. The youngest was one day old.

A new analysis by the Guardian reveals that fentanyl claimed the lives of more than 2,100 people living on the streets of Los Angeles county and in homeless shelters between 2014 to 2023.

From 2022 to 2023, there was a 15% increase in deaths of unhoused people in which fentanyl was ruled to be one of the primary causes.

The number of fentanyl deaths has surged over the last five years, with 633 fatalities among the unhoused in 2022, 255 in 2020 and 30 in 2018.

Black Angelenos make up only 9% of the county's overall population, but accounted for 27% of all fentanyl deaths of unhoused people in the last decade.