Shelter Capacity Report 2019

On this page

• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Types of shelters
• National emergency shelter capacity overview
• National summary: Emergency shelters (2019)
• Emergency shelters by clientele served (2019)
• Emergency shelters and shelter beds by community (2019)
• Appendix A: Transitional housing by clientele served (2019)
• Appendix B: Violence against women shelters (2019)
• Appendix C: Glossary
• References

Alternate formats

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank service providers and Community Entities for their collaboration in the development of the National Service Provider List (NSPL) and your support of the advancement of the understanding of homelessness in Canada.

Introduction

The Shelter Capacity Report is a descriptive account of capacity statistics for emergency homeless shelters in Canada. The report provides information on the number of emergency shelter facilities and permanent beds for each province, territory, and community. In addition, the appendices include overviews of transitional housing facilities and violence against women shelters.

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) prepares this report annually using information obtained from the National Service Provider List (NSPL). The NSPL is a comprehensive listing of homeless shelters in Canada which ESDC maintains.

ESDC conducted a comprehensive update of the NSPL emergency shelters in 2018. For this process, community entities updated and validated information for the services in their community. This approach set a new baseline for the NSPL, ensuring higher accuracy of findings. Changes in the reported number of shelters and beds between 2017 and 2018 may reflect updated information rather than actual changes in national shelter capacity.

The 2019 update, conducted between June and December 2019, used an approach similar to that used in 2018. Community Entities and Service Canada in the region of Quebec provided current information about shelters.  ESDC obtained additional information from community organizations and publicly available sources. 

The report excludes shelters that cater exclusively to specific subgroups (for example, immigrants/refugees or pregnant women). It also excludes motel and hotel programs.

For emergency and transitional services in the 2019 report, all services offered by an umbrella organization to a specific target population located at the same address were collapsed.

Types of shelters

National emergency shelter capacity overview

Text description of Figure 1

Total number of emergency shelters and permanent emergency shelter beds in Canada.

There are 423 emergency shelters and 16,271 permanent beds in Canada.

Emergency shelter beds by clientele served

Text description of Figure 2

Clientele	Percentage (%)
General	37
Men	31
Women	12
Families	11
Youth	9

• More than a third (37%) of shelter beds are in general shelters that serve both men and women
• Men's shelters account for a greater percentage of all shelter beds (31%) compared to women's shelters (12%)
• Family shelters account for 11% of shelter beds
• Shelters that exclusively serve youth tend to be smaller. Although they make up 22% of all shelters, they account for 9% of all emergency shelter beds

Proportion of shelters and beds by community size

• A significant proportion of shelters (41%) are located in small communities (populations less than 300,000)
• However, the majority of shelter beds (80%) are in large communities (populations of greater than 300,000) 
• The average number of beds per shelter is 19 in small communities compared to 52 in large communities
• The median number of beds in small communities is 15, while the median number for large communities is 32

Text description of Figure 3

Beds	Proportion
small communities (population less than 300,000)	20%
large communities (population more than 300,000)	80%

Shelters	Proportion
small communities (population less than 300,000)	41%
large communities (population more 300,000)	59%

Number of emergency shelter beds by province and territory

• The majority of shelter beds (90%) are in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia
• Almost half of all emergency shelter beds (44%) are located in Ontario

Text description of Figure 4

Province	Number of emergency shelter beds
Ontario	7,175
Alberta	3,258
British Columbia	2,336
Quebec	1,901
Saskatchewan	483
Manitoba	403
Nova Scotia	225
New Brunswick	180
Newfoundland and Labrador	146
Northwest Territories	82
Yukon Territories	39
Nunavut	36
Prince Edward Island	7

Number of emergency shelter beds by population of 10,000

Text description of Figure 5

Province	Beds by population of 10,000
Alberta	8.0
British Columbia	5.0
Manitoba	3.2
New Brunswick	2.4
Newfoundland and Labrador	2.8
Northwest Territories	19.6
Nova Scotia	2.4
Nunavut	10.0
Ontario	5.3
Prince Edward Island	0.5
Quebec	2.3
Saskatchewan	4.4
Yukon	10.9

• Source: Statistics Canada, 2017

• The northern territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) have the highest number of shelter beds per population of 10,000
• The Atlantic provinces and Quebec rank lowest in terms of emergency shelter capacity per population of 10,000

National summary: Emergency shelters (2019)

• ¹ All services offered by an umbrella organization to a specific target population located at the same address were collapsed. As a result, the figures in this report are slightly lower than the counts reported in the 2019 National Service Provider List.
• ² In 2019 Newfoundland and Labrador added 7 privately-owned shelters, with a total capacity of 79 beds.
• Note: Changes in the reported number of shelters and beds from 2017 to 2018 may reflect updated information rather than actual changes in capacity. Subsequent changes reflect changes in capacity.

Emergency shelters by clientele served (2019)

Emergency shelters and shelter beds by community (2019)

Appendix A: Transitional housing by clientele served (2019)¹,²

• ¹ All services offered by an umbrella organization to a specific target population located at the same address were collapsed. As a result, the figures in this report are slightly lower than the counts reported in the 2019 National Service Provider List.
• ² There were no transitional housing facilities in Prince Edward Island and Nunavut.
• ³⁶ A specific bed count is not available for 1 shelter. Total bed counts therefore do not include the capacity for this shelter.

Appendix B: Violence against women shelters (2019)¹

• ¹A specific bed count is not available for one shelter in each of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Nunavut, and 2 shelters in Manitoba. Total bed counts for these provinces/territories therefore do not include the capacities for these shelters.

Appendix C: Glossary

Emergency shelters

Facilities that provide temporary, short-term accommodation for homeless individuals and families. This may or may not include other services such as food, clothing or counselling. This excludes motel and hotel programs.

Family shelters

Facilities that provide temporary, short-term accommodation specifically for families.

General shelters

Facilities that provide services to adult males and females. Some also accept youth.

Homelessness

The living situation of an individual or family who does not have stable, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring a home.

Large communities

Communities with a population greater than 300,000.

Men's shelters

Facilities that provide services to adult males. Some also accept youth.

Service providers

Organizations that provide services to homeless individuals and families and persons at risk of homelessness.

Small communities

Communities with a population of less than 300,000.

Transitional housing

Facilities that provide longer-term temporary shelter with a greater intensity of support services than emergency shelters. Transitional housing is an intermediate step between emergency shelter and permanent housing. Support services help clients to gain the stability and self-sufficiency needed to maintain permanent housing. Stays are typically between 3 months and 3 years.

Youth shelters

Facilities that provide services to youth. Shelters have varying definitions of youth, often ranging from 12 to 29 years of age.

Violence against women shelters

Facilities that provide temporary shelter to single women or women with children fleeing domestic abuse. They may function in either a crisis capacity or as transitional or second-stage housing.

Women's shelters

Facilities that provide services to adult females. Some also accept youth.

References

Statistics Canada. (2017). "Population and Dwelling Count Highlight Tables, 2016 Census" Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-402-X2016001. Ottawa, Ontario. February 8.

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/pd-pl/Table.cfm?Lang=Eng&T=101&S=50&O=A