California bill empowers counties to create homeless death review committees
Too often, the death of a homeless person passes without notice.
A California lawmaker has proposed a bill that would empower county governments to take notice, and to better coordinate the services they offer to local homeless populations.
Assembly Bill 271, by Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, authorizes — but does not require — counties to establish homeless death review committees to identify the root causes of homeless mortality and to improve coordination of services for that population, according to a legislative summary of the bill.
“Our homeless population has not only exploded, but we continue to see more and more individuals dying,” Quirk-Silva said in an interview with The Bee.
Quirk-Silva said that in Orange County, as many as 45 homeless people die each month. In Sacramento County, nearly 200 homeless men and women died last year.
That includes Gwen Mayse and Francisco R. Ramirez. In Vacaville, a community mourned the death of homeless man Mark Rippee.
“Certainly we should be able to have a more formal process to learn who’s dying on our streets,” she said.
Quirk-Silva said that the death rate among homeless people was unacceptably high.
“In essence, we’re dying our way out of homelessness,” she said.
The bill offers no money to counties to cover the cost of setting up review committees.
The lawmaker said the biggest issue preventing county government agencies from providing more effective care and services for the unhoused population is the lack of coordination between agencies. She said that her bill would remove bureaucratic roadblocks to that communication.
“It would allow sharing among these different departments that are working in this area,” Quirk-Silva said.
She added that the most important part of her bill would be learning what is causing these deaths, whether it’s environmental issues, health problems stemming from being unhoused, or lack of weather-appropriate clothing.
“I think that there’s some real important information that we want to understand,” Quirk-Silva said.
