They succumbed to heart disease, hypothermia and COVID-19. They were hit by trains and cars. They overdosed aboard BART and in a storage unit.
One man had been dead long enough that by the time he was found at a homeless encampment in Los Gatos, his body was so decomposed that no one could tell how he died.
They all had one thing in common: nowhere to call home.
On Wednesday, 246 handmade, foam tombstones covered the plaza outside the Santa Clara County building on West Hedding Street in San Jose, each one bearing the name and age of someone who died before they could get off the street. The annual vigil, which took place on National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, was one of several remembrances held around the Bay Area in recent weeks at a time when the region’s homelessness crisis is mounting — and so is the tragedy of people dying while homeless.
Activists in San Francisco read nearly 300 names during a candlelight vigil outside City Hall earlier this month, honoring those who died this year and were either homeless or living in the beleaguered single-room-occupancy hotels San Francisco uses as homeless housing. A ceremony last month honored nearly 100 homeless Alameda and Santa Clara County residents who had been getting help from nonprofit Abode Services.
As of Tuesday, 172 homeless people had died this year in Alameda County, according to the Coroner’s Bureau. The only solace: That’s down from 196 last year.
The Santa Clara County vigil, now in its ninth year, honors people who died from Dec. 1, 2021, through Nov. 30, 2022. At last year’s memorial, the tombstone count was nearly identical at 250.
“It’s a collective failing,” said San Jose Mayor-Elect Matt Mahan. “It’s an indictment of our society that allows people to live and die on the streets before their time.”
Jocelyne Benitez, her husband and her brother-in-law were there to honor their uncle, 67-year-old Ramiro Mejia Hernandez, who was found unconscious in Columbus Park in San Jose last month.
“He would always light up everything. He was always dancing, playing music,” she said. “Now it’s so quiet.”
The family lost touch with Hernandez, who had been living in Sacramento, and hadn’t seen him in three or four years. Then one day out of the blue, they saw him on a local news segment about the Columbus Park homeless encampment. The family went looking for him at the camp, and once they found him, welcomed him back into their lives. Hernandez frequently stopped by Benitez’s home and formed a close bond with her 4-year-old daughter. He was always eager to be of service, whether it was jumping up to help her carry in groceries, cleaning the house or doing landscaping.
But try as they might, family members couldn’t convince him to move in with them.
Last month, when Benitez returned from a trip out of town with her husband, Luis Mejia, she found a note on their front door. It was from Hernandez’s friend, and it said he had been found dead.
“I almost passed out,” she said.
The family still doesn’t know how he died — they’re waiting for more information from the medical examiner’s office.
Drugs were a factor in at least 68 deaths among homeless residents in Santa Clara County this calendar year, with methamphetamine being the most common. At least seven people died of suicide, including a 27-year-old man who hanged himself in jail. The medical examiner’s office listed COVID-19 as a contributing cause of death in at least a dozen cases. One baby died in utero, and another died after being born prematurely; both mothers had the virus. A 33-year-old man with schizophrenia was hit and killed by a train near the Stanford campus.
And recent cold and rainy weather has been devastating, as low December temperatures have prompted freeze warnings and set or nearly set records throughout the Bay Area. Santa Clara County is investigating seven deaths thought to be related to the cold — all of which occurred between Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 when overnight temperatures dipped into the 30s. Four of those who died were homeless, including two people found in San Jose last week, said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michelle Jorden. She wouldn’t provide many details about the cases, as her office is still investigating.
Two men were found dead in a car in South San Francisco earlier this month. Officials said it appears they were burning charcoal or a similar substance in an attempt to keep warm and were poisoned by carbon monoxide.
For Robert Aguirre, who was homeless off and on for two decades, the annual vigil is a sobering reminder of what easily could have happened to him. He used to live in the “Jungle,” a notorious former encampment along Coyote Creek, but found housing in 2014 and now works as an advocate for other unhoused people.
“I’m very fortunate,” he said. “Beyond words. I’m just so fortunate.”