The number of people relying on shelters across the country increased by 12% in a year, according to a Department of Infrastructure briefing note.
Blacklock's Reporter says no explanation was provided for the rise.
The federal government has allocated more than half a billion dollars annually to support homeless services.
“Key findings include the estimated number of shelter users in 2023 (118,329), which grew by 12% compared to 2022 (105,655) and remains just below 2019 levels (118,759),” stated the October 4 document Homeless Data Snapshot: The National Shelter Study 2023 Update.
The report also noted a rise in chronic homelessness, with numbers increasing from 31,476 to 32,660.
These figures are the latest available, though officials acknowledge a two-year delay in estimating the homeless population. “On an average night, approximately 16,627 people were staying in shelters,” the update stated.
The report also highlighted an expansion in shelter capacity. “The overall permanent emergency shelter system grew by almost 13% between 2022 and 2023,” it said, citing a rise from 18,336 beds in 2022 to 20,676 in 2023.
The federal government has committed $561 million annually to programs for the homeless, managed by the infrastructure department.
Despite federal aid, homelessness has increased. A May 22 Budget Office report found that while funding had reduced the “point-in-time count of homeless persons by about 6,000,” overall numbers continued to climb.
“Since 2018, the number of homeless people has risen by 20%,” the report stated. It estimated that cutting chronic homelessness by 50% would require an additional $3.5 billion per year under current spending programs.
Estimating homelessness beyond shelter use remains a challenge. A 2023 Review Of Canadian Homelessness Data by Statistics Canada recorded 9,275 shelter users based on Census data but acknowledged limitations. “The Census is not an adequate tool to frequently enumerate the homeless population,” analysts noted.
Accurately measuring the national homeless population remains difficult, StatsCan reported. “Homeless people rarely have a fixed address, making them hard to count and often beyond the reach of surveys,” the Canadian Homelessness report explained. “This also makes them difficult to identify in administrative data.”