NYC homeless deaths tied to drugs and alcohol accounted for nearly half of the city’s homeless deaths in the latest annual tally, underscoring how addiction, illness and unstable housing continue to overlap in New York City’s shelter and street population. A new city report found that 285 of 634 homeless residents who died between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, died from drug addiction, overdoses or alcoholism.
The analysis, released in the city’s 2026 report on homeless mortality, covered deaths in shelters, on the street, in subways, in abandoned buildings and in other settings including an acquaintance’s home. Most of the people who died, 58%, died in a hospital, while 22% of unsheltered residents died outdoors. The report said 52% of those who died were unsheltered and 48% died in a homeless facility.
Drug-related deaths remained the leading cause, making up 40% of the total, or 251 deaths. Heart disease followed at 12%, with 78 deaths. Other leading causes included accidents not involving overdose, alcohol misuse or dependence, and cancer. The report also counted 18 suicides, 15 deaths from cold exposure or hypothermia, 15 subway accident deaths, 14 auto accident deaths and 11 homicides. Five deaths were tied to toxic substances, four to heat and three to falls.
City medical examiners confirmed most of the deaths, but the report also noted that the total is likely too low because the city had trouble tracking thousands of migrants served through other agencies during the border crisis. The report said some migrants sheltered by Health+Hospitals, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and New York City Emergency Management may have died without being identified as homeless decedents because the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene did not receive matching data from those agencies.
