Three more deaths put Santa Barbara’s homeless death toll at 23 for the year.

Social worker Ken Williams reported Friday morning that the latest of the deaths occurred when a homeless man was hit by a train Thursday evening. Another man had been ill for some time and passed away in medical facility, Williams said.

“They are dying at a rate faster than I can write about them,” Williams wrote in an e-mail to Noozhawk.

The cause of death is still unknown for another homeless man, who Williams said went by the street name of “Red Beard.” He was found along Highway 101 near Patterson.

“I fear what the next few months will bring and look with sadness and pain upon the beds that go empty at the shelter due to regulations that I do not understand,” Williams said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com.