Lakewood Chooses Which Lives to Save- Homeless First

Lakewood has spent time and money trying to find a correlation between homeless deaths and cold weather. This might seem obvious, but Lakewood elected officials want to claim the number of lives saved. However, the statistics don’t cooperate. There are no weather-related deaths identified amongst Jefferson County homeless. The leading causes of non-natural death in Lakewood are from mechanical falls, drugs and suicide which far outpace weather exposure. City Council is not spending millions of dollars on those causes. Even the number of homicides in Lakewood outstrips the number of deaths from exposure in all of Jefferson County. No increased spending on police. Is the priority really saving lives? Which lives are the responsibility of Lakewood government?

Current statistics are that two Jeffco homeless a month present for help with hypothermia-related symptoms in emergency or urgent care. From 2020-2023, 8-12 Jeffco residents die from hypothermia per year. This category was not significant enough to break out in prior years. There is no data on which city these people are from or if they are unhoused. With the number of unhoused increasing in Jefferson County, the likelihood of any accident will also increase.

The Jeffco coroner did not identify any deaths from weather-related or hypothermic causes among people experiencing homelessness” (from Lakewood Study Session presentation minute 14)

It is an unfortunate reality that people experiencing homelessness suffer due to the cold. However, it is not a significant cause of death, despite what elected officials are saying. Lakewood Manager of Housing and Thriving Communities, Chris Conner, provided various reasons as to why homeless did not die of hypothermia, including that Lakewood is now saving them through the new shelter. The data shows that hypothermic deaths are not statistically significant in any Jeffco population, before or after the shelter started.

From the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office 2023 Report

City staff highlighted statistics from the Jeffco Coroner’s report which shows the total number of accidental (non-traffic) deaths across all of Jeffco. Weather exposure is the 4^th leading cause of death in that category with a total of 9.

MECHANICAL FALL: “The majority of accidental deaths investigated by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office (JCCO) are due to injuries such as hip fractures or intracranial hemorrhages from mechanical falls in the elderly population. Accidental overdose or drug toxicity deaths also account for a large portion of accidental deaths investigated by the JCCO.”

Given the statistics, unless they are elderly, an unhoused resident is far more likely to die from drug intoxication than exposure to the elements.

A closer look reveals that the number of county-wide deaths from exposure is far less than the number of Lakewood suicides, traffic accidents or homicides. (Note that the traffic accidents did not occur on any road with the newly lowered speed limit.) Although most deaths are from natural causes, there were 15 homicides in 2023 and City Council has repeatedly refused to investigate crime as an issue.

There is no breakdown of accidental, non-traffic deaths, that occurred in just Lakewood but those statistics have been requested for future reports.

Westword did an in-depth investigation into exposure deaths among the homeless and found that all 8 deaths in that year were accompanied by drug or alcohol intoxication.

Given the amount of death by drugs, if Lakewood’s goal was to save lives, a better priority may be to get into the business of mental health or drug treatment, rather than shelter.