Street Roots editorial

Last year, 56 people died while experiencing homelessness in Multnomah County. In 2011, the figure was 47. In addition to these numbers, we know that even more people on the streets died in local hospitals that were not counted by the medical examiner.

Why should we care?

On its face, what does the number 56 even mean? In an age when we are overwhelmed with the number of people dying for any number of poverty-related issues, it’s hard to give context to what the numbers mean.

What we know:

By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Writer

He was one of a kind — the man in the white tuxedo and Mickey Mouse ears, playing his trumpet from a corner perch on the Hawthorne Bridge.

But on Nov. 6, “Working” Kirk Reeves became one in a list of Multnomah County’s “domicile unknowns.”