HOMELESSNESS is up in Greater Vancouver, reaching the highest recorded, according to the 2025 Point-in-Time Homeless Count in Greater Vancouver Preliminary Data Report released on Wednesday.
There was a nine percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Greater Vancouver since the 2023 count, with the largest increase in people who are experiencing unsheltered homelessness, which means they’re living outdoors, without protection from the elements. In this year’s count, unsheltered homelessness increased by more than 60 percent in several municipalities, even doubling in one.
A total of 5,232 people were experiencing homelessness across 16 municipalities in Greater Vancouver when this year’s count was conducted over a 24-hour period in early March. The previous 2023 count identified 4,821 people.
“We know that homelessness is growing at a much faster rate than population growth in the region, and this indicates that shelter capacity is insufficient,” says Lorraine Copas, Chair of the Greater Vancouver Community Advisory Board for Reaching Home.
It is important to note that Indigenous persons are overrepresented in unsheltered populations experiencing homelessness. While 42 percent of non-Indigenous respondents were unsheltered, 54 percent of Indigenous respondents were experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
“These counts are definitely the best tool we have to understand who is living without housing and why, but they have limitations, particularly when it comes to understanding Indigenous homelessness,” says David Wells, Chair of the Indigenous Homelessness Steering Committee for Greater Vancouver.
The count is designed to connect with people from West Vancouver to Langley who have no fixed address. These include individuals, couples and families who are staying in emergency homeless shelters, transition or safe houses, or temporarily in a hospital, jail or detox facility and do not have a place where they pay rent.
“We’re living in a complex economic moment, and many of the pressures that lead people into homelessness are intensifying,” says Wells. “We need governments at all levels to prioritize homelessness prevention, keeping people housed and supporting people to become re-housed.”
Copas says; “We’re releasing this high-level preliminary data now because it is incredibly valuable for organizations, support services, and policymakers to be aware of as they plan, fund and operationalize their programming to support people who experience homelessness.”
The 2025 Point-in-Time Homeless Count for Greater Vancouver is funded by the Government of Canada as part of Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, and Lu’ma Native Housing Society, as the Community Entity, is responsible for delivering the Count, on behalf of the Indigenous Homelessness Steering Committee and the Greater Vancouver Community Advisory Board for Reaching Home. The 2025 Count was conducted in March by the Homelessness Services Association of BC and Infocus Consulting.
