{"id":337606,"date":"2026-05-29T14:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337606\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:40:14","slug":"kriz-another-25-people-died-without-fixed-abode-in-oc-in-april-2026-as-county-released-report-on-homeless-deaths-for-2024-when-they-began-to-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337606\/","title":{"rendered":"Kriz: Another 25 People Died \u201cWithout Fixed Abode\u201d in OC in April 2026 as County Released Report on Homeless Deaths for 2024 When They Began to Decline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another 25 people died \u201cwithout fixed abode\u201d in OC in April, 2026.\u00a0 Their names are:<\/p>\n

Jorge CORTES who died on April 3rd in Santa Ana<\/p>\n

Andrew SOLOMON who died on April 3rd in Buena Park<\/p>\n

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Making noise where it matters.<\/p>\n

You’ve read article. Keep cranking up the volume on what’s happening behind the scenes in Orange County with the Morning Report newsletter.<\/p>\n

Patricia SALGADO who died on April 5th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

Leonardo BRUNTON who died on April 8th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

Elmer ALEMAN BARRIENTOS who died on April 9th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

Isabelle STANFIELD-TORRES who died on April 11th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

Michael ANDRE who died on April 11th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

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Juan JAIMES who died on April 12th in Santa Ana<\/p>\n

Salena ROBINSON who died on April 14th in Fountain Valley<\/p>\n

Frank LUTZ JR who died on April 14th in Orange<\/p>\n

Daniel WARD who died on April 14th in Fountain Valley<\/p>\n

Sherri RANGEL who died on April 16th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

Salem ODISHO who died on April 16th in Santa Ana<\/p>\n

Shawn EDSON who died on April 17th in Costa Mesa<\/p>\n

Dillon MERRIAM who died on April 17th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

Ricky SAUCEDO who died on April 19th in Huntington Beach<\/p>\n

Joseph AGUILERA who died on April 23rd in Santa Ana<\/p>\n

Billy TADLOCK who died on April 24th in Huntington Beach<\/p>\n

Janine CRUZ who died on April 27th in Placentia<\/p>\n

Uvilibaldo SALDANA who died on April 27th in Santa Ana<\/p>\n

Andre MOORE who died on April 27th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

David ONEAL who died on April 27th in Buena Park<\/p>\n

Erin MENDIVIL who died on April 28th in San Clemente<\/p>\n

Robert NELSON who died on April 29th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

Dean BROWN who died on April 29th in Anaheim<\/p>\n

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Additionally, one person died \u201cwithout fixed abode\u201d in January, 2026 whose name was added to the list of unhoused deceased during the past month.\u00a0 Her name is:<\/p>\n

Csenada DORIS who died on January 24th in Garden Grove.<\/p>\n

For the year, the death rate among OC\u2019s unhoused stands at 101.\u00a0 This is significantly lower than the 125 deaths posted by this time last year, 184 deaths posted by this time in 2023, and 164 deaths posted by this time in 2022.<\/p>\n

On April 30th of this year, the OC Sheriff-Coroner\u2019s Homeless Death Review Committee (OCHDRC) released its Report on 2024 Orange County Homeless Deaths.\u00a0 All four of the OCHDRC\u2019s reports (for 2021-2024) can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Significant was OCHDRC\u2019s finding that though 2024 was the first year in which the number of deaths among the unhoused decreased substantially (by 25%) since the Committee was established, the cause of death percentages \u2013 accidental (including from drug overdoses), natural, homicide, suicide, COVID-19 \u2013 have remained more or less stable throughout the period (2021-2024) studied (pg 9).<\/p>\n

Accidental deaths \u2013 54-65%<\/p>\n

Deaths due to Natural Causes \u2013 26 -37%<\/p>\n

Suicides \u2013 4-6%<\/p>\n

Homicides \u2013 2-3%<\/p>\n

Covid-19 \u2013 0-4%<\/p>\n

It had been widely assumed prior to the release of this report that the decrease in deaths among the unhoused between 2023 and 2024 was largely the result of a decrease in fentanyl related deaths.\u00a0\u00a0 Indeed, between 2023 and 2024, there was a 103 person decrease in fentanyl related deaths among OC\u2019s unhoused deceased.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the overall percentage of deaths due to accidents (including drug overdoses) and natural causes remained exactly the same for both years \u2013 \u00a060% of the deaths among OC\u2019s unhoused population were caused by accidental deaths, and 30% by natural causes (pg. 9).\u00a0 So it would seem that something else is going on.<\/p>\n

I would like to hope that the reason for the decrease would be the increased availability and utilization of shelter beds.\u00a0 Only 32 of the 378, less than 10%, \u00a0unhoused deceased who died had been enrolled in a shelter when they died (pg 14).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, there may also be confusion in categorizing the deaths of people residing in shelters.\u00a0\u00a0 I know this because some years ago, I presided over a memorial service for a person who died in a shelter but whose death had never been among those \u201cwithout fixed abode.\u201d\u00a0 Others among the homeless advocate community have similar experiences as well.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the overall decrease in deaths among those \u201cwithout fixed abode\u201d is certainly a good thing, as is the OCHDRC\u2019s commitment to produce a similar report next year (for 2025) as well (pg. 19).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Knowledge is good, and these reports will help to continue to reduce and hopefully one day soon eliminate the deaths of these people, the unhoused, who certainly are among the most vulnerable people living in our midst.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fr. Dennis Kriz, OSM,\u00a0Pastor St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church, Fullerton.<\/p>\n

Opinions expressed in community opinion pieces belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.<\/p>\n

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please\u00a0email\u00a0opinions@voiceofoc.org.<\/p>\n

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\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another 25 people died \u201cwithout fixed abode\u201d in OC in April, 2026.\u00a0 Their names are: Jorge CORTES who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,40805,969,1493,975],"class_list":["post-337606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-fr-dennis-kriz","tag-homeless","tag-homelessness","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}