Fewer homeless New Yorkers died in the Big Apple last year, the first decrease in the unhoused death rate in seven years, according to annual reporting released this week.
City agencies reported that 634 homeless New Yorkers died in 2025 compared to 770 in 2024, an 18% drop year-over-year. The discovery was made in the annual Report on Deaths among Persons Experiencing Homelessness, which showed that the leading cause of death for homeless New Yorkers both sheltered and living on the streets was drug-related, accounting for 40% of deaths.
But the number of drug-related deaths reported in 2025 dropped sharply, 28%, from 348 in 2024 to 251, according to the latest report.
A Department of Social Services spokesperson said the city has been working to address substance use and overdoses among homeless New Yorkers, and it appears the latest numbers on deaths in the 2025 fiscal year demonstrate that the targeted overdose prevention and harm reduction programs are saving lives.
“The FY25 mortality reports marks the first time in seven years that the city has seen a decrease in deaths across sheltered and unsheltered New Yorkers experiencing homelessness even as homelessness remained high,” a spokesperson said in a statement to amNewYork. “With more than 95% of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness residing in shelters, the city saw overdose deaths amongst New York City’s homeless population declining faster than the citywide and national decline.”
The decline comes when the city’s homeless population is reaching record numbers. The latest point-in-time count recording the yearly number of homeless people sleeping outside shelters found that nearly 5,000 people were living on the streets of New York City as of the annual HOPE survey conducted in March.
The Coalition for the Homeless, meanwhile, estimates that as many as 95,000 people live in homeless shelters citywide.
Officials said two key aspects making a big difference in the city’s shelters are its Overdose Prevention Program, the largest in the state, and the NYC Harm Reduction in Shelters Strategic Plan. The Department of Homeless Services trained staff and clients at DHS and Human Resources Administration shelters to administer the opioid overdose reversing treatment naloxone and distributed 20,000 naloxone kits across the shelters.
In 2025, DHS successfully administered naloxone in over 90% of all suspected opioid overdoses, according to officials. Since 2022, city data shows that overdose deaths in shelters have decreased by 61%, compared to 33% citywide and 34% nationwide.
Further bolstering the city’s efforts to curb drug-related deaths are its targeted harm reduction efforts in the shelter system.
City agencies zeroed in on the 40 shelters with the highest rates of overdoses and offered staff additional training, resources and offering referrals to local harm reduction organizations and overdose prevention programs.
In addition to shelters with higher reports of overdoses, the harm reduction plan tapped staff with personal experience with homelessness or substance use for the Harm Reduction Specialist Direct Service program to reach out to clients who previously experienced a non-fatal overdose to link individuals directly to resources, support and care. So far, the direct services program has served 1,400 individuals, according to DSS officials.
Other leading causes of death among homeless New Yorkers included heart disease at 12%, accidents at 9%, alcohol misuse/dependence at 5%, and cancer at 4%.