On Jan. 29, Pierce County quietly made a major change to how it tracks death on the streets. The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department amended a state data-sharing agreement so local death records now include a person’s housing status.
That technical tweak is expected to let public-health staff finally tally presumed homeless deaths across multiple years and look for patterns behind those deaths. TPCHD officials say a preliminary review of 2023 and 2024 records should be finished in the coming weeks.
“This is a big step forward for our team,” TPCHD spokesperson Kenny Via told The News Tribune, noting that the department’s Assessment, Evaluation and Epidemiology team is now reviewing and validating 2023 and 2024 death records. Via told the paper that TPCHD does not yet have the 2025 data and that officials expect a preliminary analysis within about three to four weeks.
Why the numbers dropped
The change comes after a puzzling collapse in Pierce County’s official counts of deaths among people experiencing homelessness that followed the rollout of a new state death-certification system. A registrar told The News Tribune the Washington Health and Life Event System, known as WHALES, made it harder to flag someone as unhoused.
Local advocates have pointed to WHALES as the tipping point, a shift that showed up in local coverage of the issue. Tacoma Weekly reported that counts plunged after WHALES was adopted.
Chaplain’s memorial kept names in public view
While the official numbers got fuzzy, one local chaplain kept a steady count of the human toll. Chaplain Ed Jacobs, who organizes quarterly memorials for people believed to have been unhoused at the time of their death, has long tracked names drawn from medical examiner and health department lists.
He read 167 names at a 2022 service and nearly 300 at the 2023 memorial, according to local reporting. The Suburban Times covered those gatherings and the community response.
How the medical examiner classifies cases
Pierce County Medical Examiner investigators say they pull together scene information, witness statements and any available records to assess a person’s housing status. When appropriate, they flag a case as “presumed to be homeless” in their internal case-management system.
The office’s leadership and media contacts are listed on the county site, which outlines how the Medical Examiner communicates with the public and issues releases. For background on the office and its staff, see the Pierce County Medical Examiner directory and news pages.
How other counties do it
Other jurisdictions have already tried to close this data gap. In Multnomah County, Oregon, officials publish an annual “Domicile Unknown” report, and the state passed a 2022 law that requires counties to note housing status on death certificates. That shift produced more detailed local counts and helped public-health teams identify trends.
OPB and county reports show those data have been used to track overdoses, weather-related deaths and traffic fatalities among unhoused residents.
What to watch next
TPCHD says its preliminary analysis will help determine whether Pierce County needs new outreach strategies, more medical-respite capacity or other interventions. Advocates say they plan to keep a close eye on the numbers once they are released.
Recent council and coalition discussions have also included the idea of cross-referencing medical examiner lists with human-services records to improve identification and follow-up. Agendas and meeting notes are available from local partners. For background on those conversations, see the Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting pages.
