Windsor doesn't track deaths of people experiencing homelessness. Here's why that matters

The death of a man who was experiencing homelessness in downtown Windsor has shed light on the lack of transparency and publicly available reporting that tracks the deaths of those in the homeless community. 

On Jan. 31, Anatole Rybas, 69, was found dead on the streets of Windsor. Windsor police said officers responded to a call of a person "without vital signs" at around 3:45 p.m. on Ouellette Avenue in between Wyandotte Street and Park Street.

He's one of an unknown number of people experiencing homelessness who have died on the city's streets. 

"The fact that these deaths aren't tracked I think speaks volumes about how we feel about these people, how much value we have for [this group]," said Rybas' nephew Sam Toman.

"We kind of see them as others ... and by not recording their deaths it's almost like they never existed or we want to pretend that they don't exist." 

Homelessness and housing service providers, along with advocates in Windsor-Essex, argue that actively logging people who die on the streets, can increase public awareness, better inform social policies and force the government to take more action. 

This data could be especially useful during a time when homelessness is on the rise amid an opioid crisis and lack of affordable housing. 

When asked whether a tracking system is needed, executive director of Family Services Windsor-Essex Joyce Zuk said if asked that five years ago, she would have said "no." 

"However what I know now is what gets measured, gets done. So as we begin to acquire better data it seems to be the catalyst to get governments to move," Zuk said. 

Who in Windsor has this information? 

Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin told CBC News that although there isn't a formal tracking system in the city, local service providers are aware when a situation like Rybas' takes place. 

But when CBC News reached out to the following providers asking if they had data on the number of homeless people who have died in recent years on city streets, they all said they don't keep this data and many said they also don't have access to it: 

• Windsor-Essex County Health Unit. 
• the Downtown Mission. 
• Family Services Windsor-Essex. 
• Windsor Regional Hospital. 
• City of Windsor Housing and Homelessness Advisory Committee. 

Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) CEO Nicole Dupuis said,"deaths in the community are not reported to us," in a media briefing last week.

"The health unit is not responsible for overseeing any specific population," she said, adding communicable disease deaths are reported to them as they are of "public health significance." 

Acting medical officer of health Dr. Shanker Nesathurai said tracking deaths among homeless people is outside the scope of the health unit's mandate. 

"The way our province is organized is different branches of government are given different mandates, some of the certain communities and populations, their challenges are divided among multiple agencies," Nesathurai said. 

CBC News also reached out to Ontario's Office of the Chief Coroner, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing — all of which didn't have the information. The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Housing suggested contacting the City of Windsor for the information. 

The Coroner's Office said they "don't always know if a person is unhoused or experiencing homelessness," in the deaths they are called to investigate. 

In an email to CBC News Thursday, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said that on March 8, the province launched a "streamlined" Homeless Prevention Program (HPP).

It said the City of Windsor received $12.4 million for 2022 to 2023 under HPP — a program that also has a "By-Name List" list.

This "real-time list," it said, makes note of those who are experiencing homelessness in the community and it provides service providers with "actionable data," including information about the needs of each person.

Would this data help? 

Toronto Public Health, alongside the City of Toronto, is one health unit in the province that works with local service providers to track this data and publicly report it.

By tracking that data about their deaths, I think it makes them visible.- Sam Toman

In an online dashboard, the health unit lays out the number of people experiencing homelessness who have died each month since 2017 and breaks it down by gender, age, location of death and cause of death. 

"Prior to 2017, data on deaths among people experiencing homelessness were limited to municipally administered shelter residents. As a result, the full scope of the problem was largely unknown," Toronto Public Health wrote in an email to CBC News. 

This reporting, it said, helps "inform policy, legislation and planning for programs and services."

In particular, the public health unit said it has helped increase outreach to those on the streets, work to improve and update the homelessness health services framework, update the city shelter's harm reduction requirements and work with community partners to better address issues in the homeless community. 

And while this strategy is helping Toronto, Bortolin said he doesn't think Windsor needs to follow suit. 

He said one of the reasons Toronto began tracking this information is because "numbers were so high, to the point where they were losing two to three people per week." 

"We're no where near that and it's such an infrequent situation that we often don't even understand what all the complex issues that led to that situation were," he said, adding that accurately reporting someone's cause of death might be difficult and there could be privacy concerns. 

But at least one advocate told CBC Windsor there's been rumours of other people experiencing homelessness who have died. 

Bortolin also said the City of Windsor's budget is "inadequate" to deal with an issue like this. And if the city had the funding, he'd rather put it toward "another outreach worker on the street so that when they bump into those people they can help get them into a warm bed that night."

"If I'm taking that money away to track something, I really need to feel confident that it's going to lead to results or lead to future funding to help basically eradicate the issue," Bortolin said. 

But he said if service providers want to advocate for a system like this, he'd be open to talking about it. 

Tracking will make people 'visible' to the system

While tracking might not solve the issue, advocates said it could help a system that's facing increasing strains. 

Zuk, who helps find affordable housing options for people, said while tracking is important to show the "vastness of the issue that we are trying to fight." She said one death is already one too many. 

At the core of it all, Zuk said the focus needs to be on improving housing supports and wraparound services, like mental health and addictions support, so that people can "lead fuller and healthier lives." 

"People who live on the streets are invisible to the system, they're invisible to a lot of people who kind of look away and don't want to acknowledge them and I think by tracking their deaths you're honouring them in a way, you're honouring their life," said Toman. 

"By tracking that data about their deaths, I think it makes them visible."