Fog gathered outside windows of the Lighthouse Mission Ministries chapel on a morning in January, as a few dozen people gathered to celebrate the lives of four past shelter residents who recently died.
Staff and people who worked with the four told stories of happiness, and stories of struggle; one person was remembered for her love of bright colors and home decor, and another for his love of music and his “tough exterior, but tender, tender heart.”
“We welcome people in, we want them to feel at home, and we also say goodbye,” Lighthouse Mission staff member James Murphy said at the start of the service.
These memorials honor about five people every month at the Mission, the only consistent overnight shelter in Whatcom County. It’s one of several moments for the community to come together to celebrate the lives of homeless people, who face excess mortality rates. On average, they live about 20 fewer years than housed people.
Last year in Whatcom County, 81 homeless or recently homeless people died, according to the Opportunity Council’s Homeless Outreach Team.
Josephine Ensign, a professor and researcher at the University of Washington who focuses on homelessness and public health, said poverty in general increases people’s mortality rates, and homelessness is an “extreme form of poverty and social exclusion.”
She said homeless people can enter a “survival mode,” trying to stay warm and dry or cool enough in the summer, and trying to get enough food. Ensign said “lack of access to appropriate health care” and social stigma also contribute to stress.
Information on homeless deaths in the U.S. is limited. There is no standard for collecting homeless mortality data, nor a way to report the information to the federal government, according to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
Tracking homeless deaths in Whatcom County
In Whatcom County, data from the medical examiner’s office and information collected by homeless service providers can provide a picture of how many homeless people die in our community — and how.
Numbers collected by homeless service providers, led by the Opportunity Council’s Homeless Outreach Team, come by word of mouth, with verification with the medical examiner’s records, Director of Community Engagement Katie Rose said. But they know the names collected don’t necessarily provide an accurate count.
In Whatcom County, the medical examiner’s office does note when a person who died is homeless but does not publish that information publicly. Cascadia Daily News obtained that data through a public records request.
Medical Examiner Aldo Fusaro, who started the job in December, and Operations Manager Louise Trapp said they determine a person who passed away is homeless through family, law enforcement, or circumstantial evidence. They said changes in administration mean they can’t speak to how past data was collected.
The ME’s office also doesn’t assume jurisdiction over every death that occurs in Whatcom County, focusing most on deaths under suspicious circumstances, accidents, sudden deaths, unknown or obscure causes, unnatural or unlawful deaths, and in-custody deaths. That’s why data collected by the ME doesn’t match the Opportunity Council’s numbers.
With those caveats, available data from the ME’s office show a decrease in the number of deaths in 2024 due or partially due to drug intoxication — from 26 in 2023 to 13 in 2024 — but many cause of deaths last year are still pending.
Fusaro and Trapp said the change in deaths connected to overdoses appears to be good news.
[ Read more: Overdose deaths were down in Whatcom County in 2024 ]
Overdoses are the number one cause of death for homeless people under 45, followed by traumatic injuries, according to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. The most common causes of death for homeless people over 45 are heart disease and cancer, followed by overdose and traumatic injuries.
In addition to health complications, homeless people may face violence. Four homeless people in Whatcom County have died by homicide in the last five years, according to ME data. In March 2023, 48-year-old Henry “Hank” King of Bellingham was murdered near the boardwalk between Taylor Dock and Boulevard Park. Elijah Belmont of Marysville has been charged with King’s murder.
At least nine homeless people died by suicide in Whatcom County since 2020, and at least five homeless people died from exposure or hypothermia from 2019-2024, according to ME data.
Memorials like the Mission's monthly gatherings and the Opportunity Council's annual December event on National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day are a comfort.
"By talking about our residents who have passed, or unhoused community that have passed, we are remembering and we're giving them the dignity that they deserve," said Katie Anderson, the Mission's Director of Spiritual Care.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
