Everyone Counts 2025: Results from the Annual Enumeration of Homelessness

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  Aussi disponible en français sous le titre : Tout le monde compte 2025 : Résultats de l'énumération annuelle des personnes en situation d'itinérance

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  Cat. T91-18E-PDF
  ISSN 3111-0991

On this page

• Key findings from the 2025 Point-in-Time (PiT) Enumeration
• Introduction
  • Acknowledgements
• Methodology
  • Data and limitations
• Results
  • 2025 enumeration
  • Comparison to previous enumerations
  • Differences by region
  • Differences by community size
• Conclusion
• Annex A - Communities participating in the 2025 PiT Enumeration

Key findings from the 2025 Point-in-Time (PiT) Enumeration

Homelessness has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in unsheltered locations and encampments, but stabilized between 2024 and 2025. Persisting high rates of homelessness (59% higher than in 2020-2022) highlight the need for expanded housing and support services.

In 2025, the core enumeration counted 65,000 people experiencing homelessness on a single night across 75 Canadian communities

Since the 2023-2024 Point-in-Time (PiT) Counts:

Single-night rates of homelessness varied by region:

The distribution of the 2025 enumeration across overnight locations varied by region:

Single-night rates of homelessness tended to decrease with community size, with the exception of the largest, most urbanized metropolitan areas:

Introduction

This report presents the results of PiT Counts conducted in 75 communities across every province and territory in 2025. A total of 17 counts were conducted in March and April 2025^{Footnote 1}, while 58 were conducted in October and November as part of Everyone Counts, the fifth nationally coordinated Point-in-Time (PiT) Count of homelessness. The results from these counts provide a snapshot of homelessness in communities across Canada.

For the first time, counts in fall 2025 focused solely on an enumeration of homelessness. This adjustment to the national approach provides more timely insights into changing rates of homelessness. This affords more frequent measurement of the impact of policy, program, and economic changes at the local, provincial, and national levels. The PiT Count enumeration provides an estimate of the number of people experiencing homelessness within a determined geographical area on a single night. It also identifies the location where they spent the night: in shelters, transitional housing, or unsheltered locations. The next full PiT Count, which includes a survey of people experiencing homelessness, will take place in fall 2027.

The first four nationally coordinated Point-in-Time Counts were held in 2016, 2018, 2020-2022, and 2023-2024. Key findings from these counts can be found at the following linked reports:

• Everyone Counts 2016
• Everyone Counts 2018
• Everyone Counts 2020-2022
• Everyone Counts 2024 Part 1—Enumeration of homelessness
• Everyone Counts 2024 Part 2—Survey of people experiencing homelessness

Acknowledgements

This report was prepared by Michelle Roberts, Rachel Campbell, Sajidul Quayum, and Patrick Hunter from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC) and reflects the work by the PiT Count Implementation team at HICC.

This report and the understanding of homelessness that we gain from PiT Counts in Canada would not be possible without the National PiT Count Working Group and the diligent work of community organizations and their front-line workers and volunteers. Most importantly, it would not be possible without the willing participation of people experiencing homelessness all across the country, for which we are very grateful.

Methodology

The Point-in-Time Counts, typically held between October 1 and November 30, provide a unique view of homelessness that reaches beyond those who are accessing homelessness services. PiT Counts provide an enumeration of homelessness in “core” locations, including:

• Encampments, which are outdoor locations with a group of tents, makeshift shelters or other long-term outdoor settlement, where two or more individuals are staying.^{Footnote 2}
• Other unsheltered locations such as streets, alleys, parks, transit stations, abandoned buildings, vehicles, ravines, and other outdoor locations.
• Sheltered locations such as emergency shelters, extreme weather shelters, domestic violence shelters, and where applicable, may also include hotel or motel rooms provided to families or individuals experiencing homelessness in lieu of shelter beds.
• Transitional housing such as programs that provide longer-term housing solutions with supports intended to help individuals transition from homelessness to secure, permanent housing.

Some communities also collect data on the number of people experiencing homelessness on the night of the enumeration in public systems, including urgent care facilities; emergency departments; hospital inpatient wards; detox, treatment or rehabilitation centres; correctional facilities; or police holding cells. These data are not included in the core enumeration because not every community is able to collect them. Further, the comprehensiveness of systems coverage and the methodology for determining the enumeration varies across communities and within communities over time, depending on local capacity and partnerships.

Similarly, some communities include people experiencing hidden homelessness (e.g., couch-surfing) in their enumeration. These data are excluded from this report, as data collection is highly variable depending on community capacity and no methods have been identified to assess the coverage of a sample measuring hidden homelessness. However, the Census of Population has added a question to measure hidden homelessness. 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.

More information on methodology can be found in the Guide to PiT Enumerations, the Frequently Asked Questions and on the Core Standards page. Definitions of terms can be found in the Homelessness Glossary for Communities, on the Homelessness Learning Hub.

Data and limitations

This report is based on the enumeration data provided by 75 communities that participated in Everyone Counts 2025 (see Annex A), including 67 communities that were Designated Communities or Territorial capitals funded by Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy.

For year-over-year comparisons, enumeration data from the fall of 2024 was used for 58 communities, in addition to enumeration data from the spring of 2023 for Metro Vancouver and Victoria, and sheltered/transitional enumeration data from the spring of 2024 from 15 Health Regions in Quebec. To estimate the unsheltered enumerations in Quebec communities in 2024, the midpoint between the 2022 and 2025 unsheltered enumerations was used as a stand-in measure.

Due to the methodology of a PiT Count, it only captures a one-night snapshot of homelessness. The enumeration will be lower than the number of people who experience homelessness over the course of a week, a month, or a year. For more information, see PiT Count Data: Interpretation and Reporting.

Results

2025 enumeration

During the night of the PiT Count enumeration, over 65,000 people in 75 communities across Canada were identified as experiencing homelessness.

Among the 65,000 people enumerated for the 2025 PiT Count, the enumeration included 36,716 (56%) people experiencing homelessness in shelters, 17,620 (27%) in unsheltered locations (of whom, 4,763 or 27% were in encampments), and 10,747 (17%) who were provisionally accommodated in transitional housing programs.^{Footnote 3}

Figure 1. Homelessness on a single night in Canada in 2025 (in 75 communities)

Based on population estimates from the 2021 Census, the rate of homelessness across all communities is approximately 22 people per 10,000 on a single night. Rates of homelessness, as well as the distribution of the 2025 Enumeration between overnight locations, differed by region and by community size. These differences are explored in more detail in later sections. The following section places the results from the 2025 PiT Enumeration in the context of trends over the 2020 to 2025 period.

Comparison to previous enumerations

Out of the 75 communities that participated in 2025, 72 also conducted PiT Enumerations in 2020-2022 and 2023-2024. Compared to 2023-2024, the total enumeration remained relatively stable. However some communities reported a reduced coverage of unsheltered areas, which may have masked some increases. 

Nevertheless, nearly 60% of communities reported increases in the 2025 Enumeration compared to 2023-2024, as a total and within each overnight location type. The proportion of communities reporting positive and negative changes in the enumerations relative to 2023-2024, and the median change since 2023-2024 within each group of communities, is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Proportion of communities reporting increases and decreases in the 2025 enumeration relative to 2023-2024 and median change by overnight location (72 communities)

Overnight location	Direction of change since 2023-2024	Proportion of communities	Median change since 2023-2024
Unsheltered locations	Increase	53%	+30.5%
	Decrease	47%	-28.3%
Shelters	Increase	70%	+25.9%
	Decrease	30%	-17.4%
Transitional housing	Increase	59%	+34.5%
	Decrease	41%	-47.7%
Total enumeration	Increase	58%	+15.9%
	Decrease	42%	-14.5%

Among communities with large increases in their total enumeration compared to the previous PiT Count, contextual reasons provided include evacuations due to forest and building fires, expansion of homeless-serving sector capacity resulting in higher numbers of people accessing shelters or transitional housing, and improved data collection due to better engagement with local partners and service providers. Among communities with large decreases in their total enumeration, contextual reasons provided include increases in the supply of long-term supportive housing, reclassification of transitional housing programs as long-term supportive housing, and successful implementation of community encampment response protocols.

The enumeration from the past three PiT Counts, broken down by overnight location, is shown in Figure 2. This graph illustrates the growth in homelessness after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent stabilization in the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night.

Figure 2. Changes in the one-night enumeration from 2020-2022 to 2025 (72 communities)

Table 2 summarizes changes in enumeration data from the communities with results across the three PiT Counts. These results show that shelter use and transitional housing expanded during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which had caused a contraction of the homeless-serving sector capacity. Rises in homelessness outpaced adaptation within the sector, shown by the disproportionate growth in unsheltered homelessness and the proliferation of encampments. However, homelessness was relatively stable from 2024 to 2025.

Compared to 2020-2022, the enumeration of people in an unsheltered location has nearly doubled (an 89% increase). Up until 2024, this group represented the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population. Compared to 2020-2022, the enumeration of people in sheltered locations increased by 47%, and the enumeration of people in transitional housing increased by 64%.

Table 2. Year-over-year changes in the enumeration, by overnight location (72 communities)

PiT Count year comparison	Change in unsheltered locations	Change in shelters	Change in transitional housing	Change in total enumeration
From 2020-22 to 2023-24	+88.3%	+55.3%	+58.4%	+63.3%
From 2023-24 to 2025	+0.4%	-5.7%	+3.7%	-2.6%

Two factors may have contributed to mitigating increases in reported homelessness in 2025 relative to reports from 2023 to 2024.

1. The number of asylum claims submitted in Canada declined by 34% between October 2024 and October 2025.^{Footnote 4} This may have reduced the demand for shelter spaces to support asylum claimants in certain urban centres.
2. Some communities (approximately 24% of those who were asked) reported a reduced coverage of unsheltered areas relative to their previous count. Factors that contributed to the reduced coverage include unexpected displacements of encampment residents, methodological and logistical constraints, and adverse weather conditions.

Differences by region

Based on the 2025 enumerations in 75 communities, the rate of homelessness was highest among communities in the Western and Northern Region, where there were 28 people experiencing homelessness per 10,000 people. Communities in the Atlantic Region saw rates of homelessness of 24 per 10,000 people, and communities in the Central Region saw rates of homelessness of 19 per 10,000 people.^{Footnote 5}

Table 3 shows that the enumeration of homelessness has nearly doubled in the Atlantic Region since 2020-2022 (94% increase). Enumerations increased by 65% and 47% since 2020-2022 in the Central Region and Western and Northern Region, respectively. Since 2020-2022, the enumeration of unsheltered homelessness increased by 202% in the Atlantic Region, by 105% in the Central Region, and by 69% in the Western and Northern Region.

Table 3. Year-over-year changes in the enumeration within each overnight location type, by region (72 communities)

Overnight location	PiT Count year comparison	Change in Western and Northern Region	Change in Central Region	Change in Atlantic Region
Unsheltered	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+56.7%	+115.8%	+236.6%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	+7.9%	-4.9%	-10.3%
Sheltered	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+39.1%	+61.7%	+69.4%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	+2.4%	-9.9%	+12.9%
Transitional	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+18.5%	+88.6%	+36.9%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	-1.1%	+8.4%	-65.3%
Total enumeration	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+41.2%	+74.9%	+96.8%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	+3.9%	-5.9%	-1.6%

Table 4 shows that people enumerated in the Western and Northern Region were more likely to be experiencing unsheltered homelessness and less likely to be staying in shelters, compared with the national distribution. People enumerated in the Central Region were more likely to be staying in transitional housing and less likely to be staying in unsheltered locations, compared to the national distribution. People enumerated in the Atlantic Region were more likely to be staying in emergency or domestic violence shelters and far less likely to be staying in transitional housing, compared with the national distribution.

Table 4. Distribution of enumeration between overnight locations, by region (75 communities)

Region	Western and Northern	Central	Atlantic
Proportion of 2025 enumeration unsheltered	37.5%	21.3%	29.4%
Proportion of 2025 enumeration in shelters	48.2%	60.2%	67.5%
Proportion of 2025 enumeration in transitional housing	14.4%	18.6%	3.1%
Summary relative to national distribution	More unsheltered; less sheltered	More transitional; less unsheltered	More sheltered; less transitional

Differences by community size

In order to better understand how homelessness experiences differ in communities of different sizes, all participating communities are grouped into four tiers, based on their population (see Table 5 and 6).

Based on the 2025 enumerations in 75 communities, rates of homelessness were highest in Tier 1 communities, where an estimated 38 people per 10,000 experienced homelessness in 2025, followed by Tier 2 communities (30 people experiencing homelessness per 10,000), Tier 4 communities (22 per 10,000), and Tier 3 communities (15 per 10,000). This indicates that rates of homelessness generally decrease as community population size increases, with the exception of the largest, highly urbanized metropolitan cities.

Table 5 shows the year-over-year changes in the enumerations over the past three PiT Counts for communities within each tier. Since 2020-2022, the enumeration of homelessness increased by 60% in Tier 1 communities, by 76% in Tier 2 communities, by 83% in Tier 3 communities, and by 46% in Tier 4 communities. Over this same period, the enumeration of unsheltered homelessness increased by 95% in Tier 1 communities, by 141% in Tier 2 communities, by 138% in Tier 3 communities, and by 51% in Tier 4 communities. This indicates that over the 2020 to 2025 period, growth in homelessness has increased with community size, with the exception of the largest metropolitan cities where growth has been more moderate, albeit still very high. Furthermore, this growth has been driven largely by increases in unsheltered homelessness, particularly in small and medium-sized communities.

Table 5. Year-over-year changes in the enumeration within each overnight location type, by community size (72 communities)

Overnight location	PiT Count year comparison	Change in Tier 1 communities (under 100,000)	Change in Tier 2 communities (100,000-399,999)	Change in Tier 3 communities (400,000-999,999)	Change in Tier 4 communities (over 1,000,000)
Unsheltered location	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+122.8%	+127.6%	+143.9%	+42.1%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	-12.3%	+5.9%	-2.6%	+6.0%
Shelters	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+12.7%	+22.8%	+47.3%	+68.4%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	+26.1%	+13.3%	+12.1%	-15.2%
Transitional housing	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+54.9%	+29.2%	+71.0%	+65.7%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	-9.0%	+28.5%	+4.9%	-4.1%
Total enumeration	From 2020-2022 to 2023-2024	+58.1%	+55.3%	+72.7%	+62.9%
	From 2023-2024 to 2025	+1.5%	+13.2%	+6.2%	-10.3%

Table 6 shows that the proportion of the enumeration in unsheltered locations is greatest in Tier 1 communities and decreases as community size increases. The proportion of the enumeration in shelters is greatest in Tier 4 communities, followed by Tier 3, Tier 1, and Tier 2. The proportion of the enumeration in transitional housing is greatest in Tier 2 communities, followed by Tier 3, Tier 1, and Tier 4.

Table 6. Distribution of enumeration between overnight locations, by community size (75 communities)

Community size	Tier 1 (under 100,000)	Tier 2 (100,000-399,999)	Tier 3 (400,000-999,999)	Tier 4 (over 1,000,000)
Number of communities	31	17	18	9
Proportion of 2025 enumeration unsheltered	40.7%	40.4%	26.7%	20.4%
Proportion of 2025 enumeration in shelters	42.8%	35.8%	50.6%	67.9%
Proportion of 2025 enumeration in transitional housing	16.5%	23.8%	22.7%	11.7%
Summary relative to national distribution	More unsheltered	More transitional and unsheltered	More transitional	More sheltered

Conclusion

The enumeration results from Everyone Counts 2025 show that over 65,000 people are experiencing homelessness on a given night in Canada. Over the past five years, the total population experiencing homelessness on a single night has increased by 59%. The share of this population experiencing homelessness in unsheltered locations, including encampments, has grown from 23% in 2020-2022 to 27% in 2025. While homelessness has increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has exhibited stabilization between 2023-2024 and 2025. The slight decrease in the enumeration between 2023-2024 and 2025 may be partially attributable to reduced numbers of asylum claimants and refugees entering Canada, as well as reduced coverage of unsheltered areas in 2025 among some communities.

While there was no overall increase in the homelessness enumeration reported in 2025 from 2024, most individual communities still did report increases, and homelessness remains at an elevated level compared to reports in 2020-2022 and earlier. The ongoing work to support community capacity building and innovation, encampment response plans, coordination between social service systems, and affordable housing is vital to addressing homelessness, and there remains an urgent need to address the factors that have contributed to recent increases, including housing affordability.

The sixth nationally coordinated PiT Enumeration will be conducted over the October-November 2026 period. Findings from this exercise will assess whether overall rates of homelessness continue to show indications of stabilization. The next full PiT Count, comprised of both the enumeration and the survey, will take place in October-November 2027. Findings from the survey will include analyses of sociodemographic characteristics and experiences related to housing and homelessness among respondents. PiT survey data will be compared with results from the 2026 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, which will enhance the accuracy of estimated rates of homelessness and will reveal how experiences of housing insecurity and homelessness may vary across populations.

The findings in this report may be subject to change as data are added. Any questions about this report can be addressed to hpd.data-donnees.dpmi@infc.gc.ca.

Annex A - Communities participating in the 2025 PiT Enumeration

The following 75 communities contributed to the enumeration data upon which this report is based:

• Abbotsford, BC
• Chilliwack, BC
• Cowichan Valley, BC
• Kamloops, BC
• Kelowna, BC
• Nanaimo, BC
• Nelson, BC
• Prince George, BC
• Metro Vancouver, BC
• Victoria, BC
• Calgary, AB
• Edmonton, AB
• Grande Prairie, AB
• Lethbridge, AB
• Medicine Hat, AB
• Red Deer, AB
• Wood Buffalo, AB
• Prince Albert, SK
• Regina, SK
• Saskatoon, SK
• Brandon, MB
• Thompson, MB
• Winnipeg, MB
• Barrie (Simcoe), ON
• Belleville (Hastings), ON
• Brantford, ON
• Cochrane District (Timmins), ON
• Dufferin County, ON
• Durham (Oshawa), ON
• Guelph/Wellington County, ON
• Halton, ON
• Hamilton, ON
• Kenora District, ON
• Kingston, ON
• Lambton County, ON
• London, ON
• Nipissing/North Bay, ON
• Ottawa, ON
• Peel Region, ON
• Peterborough, ON
• Sault Ste. Marie, ON
• Niagara Region, ON
• Sudbury, ON
• Thunder Bay, ON
• Toronto, ON
• Waterloo/Kitchener, ON
• Windsor, ON
• York Region, ON
• Abitibi-Témiscamingue, QC
• Bas-Saint-Laurent, QC
• Capitale-Nationale, QC
• Chaudière-Appalaches, QC
• Côte-Nord, QC
• Estrie, QC
• Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
• Lanaudière, QC
• Laurentides, QC
• Laval, QC
• Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec, QC
• Montérégie, QC
• Montréal, QC
• Outaouais, QC
• Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
• Bathurst, NB
• Fredericton, NB
• Moncton, NB
• Saint John, NB
• Halifax, NS
• Sydney/Cape Breton, NS
• Charlottetown, PEI
• Summerside, PEI
• St. John's, NL
• Iqaluit, NU
• Yellowknife, NWT
• Whitehorse, YT