More than 12,000 people sleeping on the street, federal report says
· Toronto Sun
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A federal report gives a sense of the homeless count in Canada with 2025’s numbers doubling since the last survey in 2022, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
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According to new data from Housing Minister Gregor Robertson’s department, 12,857 people nationwide slept in “ unsheltered locations such as streets, alleys, parks, transit stations, abandoned buildings, vehicles, ravines and other outdoor locations.”
Another 4,700 people slept in tent cities, according to the count, the most comprehensive to date.
“The core enumeration counted 65,083 people experiencing homelessness on a single night across 75 Canadian communities,” said a department report.
Most people using shelters
The largest number of people (36,716) were residing in shelters, while another 10,747 people were using transitional housing programs.
“Compared to 2022, the enumeration of people in an unsheltered location has nearly doubled, an 89% increase,” said the report Everyone Counts 2025: Results from the Annual Enumeration of Homelessness .
No reason was given for that increase.
Findings were drawn from surveys in 75 Canadian communities in the spring and fall of 2025.
“For the first time, counts in the fall of 2025 focused solely on an enumeration of homelessness,” wrote analysts. “This adjustment to the national approach provides more timely insights into changing rates of homelessness.”
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Temporary cases not included in survey
The report did not include people seeking temporary shelter with friends or family.
“Some communities include people experiencing hidden homelessness, e.g. couch surfing, in their enumeration,” the report said.
“These data are excluded from this report as data collection is highly variable.”
Better data is expected from the results of the 2026 census, the report said, “because the long-form census is mandatory, results are expected to be representative of the Canadian population and produce the first national estimate of hidden homelessness.”
The Canada Revenue Agency estimated in 2018 that 50,000 people “on any given night are often temporarily living with family or friends,” according to the study Ethnography of Homeless and Housing Insecure Canadians’ Experiences Filing Taxes and Accessing Benefits .