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Preventing and reducing homelessness: An integrated data project

Last updated on October 23, 2024

The Province uses administrative data to estimate the number of people in B.C. who experience homelessness every year. These estimates help the Province create better programs to respond to homelessness. 

On this page:

Introduction

The Preventing and Reducing Homelessness Integrated Data Project aims to better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C. using de-identified provincial administrative data to get a more complete picture of who is experiencing homelessness.

To date, the project has generated annual estimates of the population of individuals living in British Columbia who experienced homelessness from 2019 to 2022. 

Latest findings

The table below shows the percentage of homeless cohort that makes up the total provincial population. It is important to note that 2020 was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Table showing annual homeless cohort compared to B.C. population

[1] Statistics Canada. Quarterly Population Estimates by Province 2019 to 2022. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000901.

Monthly cohort by data sources

Month-over-month homeless cohort estimates 2019-2020Homeless cohort by month 2019-2022

Reports

The 2022 estimate of the homeless population in B.C. is available through the BC Data Catalogue:

Previous estimates are available in the following documents:

*Minor correction to the Total Homelessness count for 2019 in Table 2 on page 7.

Project overview

The Preventing & Reducing Homelessness Integrated Data Project was initiated in 2019 through a partnership between the Ministries of the Attorney General and Responsible for Housing (now the Ministry of Housing), Social Development and Poverty Reduction (SDPR),  Citizens’ Services, and BC Housing to create a reliable cohort research dataset to help the Province better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C. 

For the purposes of this project, an individual is considered to have experienced homelessness if at minimum they have: 

  1. Spent three consecutive months on social assistance with a No Fixed Address (NFA) flag;  
  2. Stayed one night in a BC Housing-affiliated shelter; or  
  3. Had both experiences 

The data sources used in this project are:

  • SDPR B.C. Employment and Assistance data
  • BC Housing Homeless Individual and Families Information System (HIFIS) shelter data
  • Ministry of Health’s Medical Services Plan (MSP) registry for demographic data

As the project relies on administrative datasets to determine homelessness status, it only captures individuals who have accessed the services described above.

Graphic showing the three data sources that are used to determine the homelessness cohort. The three data sources are: SDPR B.C. Employment and Assistance data, BC Housing Homeless Individual and Families Information System (HIFIS) shelter data, and Ministry of Health Medical Services Plan (MSP) registry for demographic data

Figure 1:  Administrative data sources from across government used to create the homelessness cohort.

Partners

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BC Stats

BC Stats is the provincial government's leader in statistical and economic research, information and analysis. BC Stats has provided the necessary infrastructure to conduct this research with the Data Innovation Program. Additionally, BC Stats has provided data science capacity and expertise to this project, supporting the generation of annual estimates of the population experiencing homelessness in B.C.

 

BC Housing

BC Housing: A Crown corporation that supports social housing, affordable housing, rent supplements, emergency shelters and outreach for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. BC Housing reports to the Ministry of Housing.

 

Ministry of Housing

The Ministry of Housing is responsible for providing British Columbians access to more affordable, safe and appropriate housing through policy and programs, technical codes and standards, and services for landlords and tenants. The Ministry of Housing is responsible for overseeing the implementation of Belonging in BC, the Province’s multi-ministry plan to prevent and reduce homelessness.

 

Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction

As the Ministry responsible for income and disability assistance, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction focuses on providing British Columbians in need with a system of supports to help them achieve their social and economic potential.