Homelessness

Last updated on August 5, 2026

The Province is committed to addressing the housing and support needs of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Through various partnerships and projects, we are working to better understand, respond to and prevent homelessness in B.C. Our goal is to make homelessness rare, brief and a one‑time occurrence.

Understanding homelessness in B.C.

Homelessness is often defined as a situation where a person or family lives without stable, permanent, appropriate housing. The experience of homelessness can be short, one-time, cyclical, and / or long-term in nature.

Since 2017, Government has taken significant actions to address homelessness through multiple ministries and partners. These include actions taken through the provincial homelessness plan, Belonging in B.C. The Province monitors homelessness in multiple ways, including through the point-in-time homeless counts and through integrated administrative data.

Homeless counts

Homelessness counts collect point-in-time information about people currently experiencing homelessness in communities across the province. Counts typically take place over a 24-hour period, and are conducted every few years.

Homeless counts help the Province and communities understand who is experiencing homelessness and why, and the results inform the development of supports and services that will best help people in need in different communities.

Integrated data project

The Integrated Data Project on preventing and reducing homelessness analyzes data from multiple government sources to better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C.

The Province investigates changes in the rates of homelessness over time and experiences of homelessness by different groups and in different contexts as part of how we evaluate the impact of our provincial homelessness plan, Belonging in B.C.

Belonging in B.C. homelessness plan

Belonging in B.C. is the Province’s collaborative plan to prevent and reduce homelessness. The plan includes immediate actions backed by $633 million in Budget 2022 (over three years) and $1.5 billion in Budget 2023 to help thousands of people maintain and access housing and supports. Through this plan, Government is working with Indigenous partners, people with lived experience of homelessness, local governments, service providers, and other partners to create a province where everyone has a community and a place to call home. The Province continues to implement the programs announced through Belonging in B.C., fulfill the strategic commitments set out in the plan, and improve systems to prevent and reduce homelessness across the province.

Read the Belonging in B.C. homelessness plan.

Belonging in B.C. homelessness indicators

The overarching goals of Belonging in B.C. are to prevent and reduce homelessness, and to ensure that when it does occur, it is rare, brief, and one-time. Long-term performance indicators of the plan and related actions in relation to these goals are available using data from the Preventing and reducing homelessness integrated data project and other sources.

Goal #1: Making homelessness rare

32,986 people were estimated to have experienced homelessness in B.C. at some point in 2024, per the Annual Estimates of the Homeless Population in B.C. As a rate, this was approximately 5.79 people per 1,000 people (using Q4 of Statistics Canada’s quarterly population estimates), slightly lower than the rate in 2023 (5.81 per 1,000 people).

Goal #2: Making homelessness brief

59% of individuals experiencing homelessness in 2024 met the criteria for chronic, long-term homelessness, per the Annual Estimates of the Homeless Population in B.C. This was higher than in past years (57% in 2023 and 2022, 54% in 2021 and 2020, 47% in 2019).

Goal #3: Making homelessness one-time

In 2024/25, 94% of people previously experiencing homelessness remained housed six months after a supportive housing placement, according to BC Housing’s 2024/25 Annual Service Plan Report.

Integrated Support Framework

A core initiative of the Belonging in B.C. homelessness plan is the implementation of the Integrated Support Framework (ISF), which is a new model to help coordinate and streamline the delivery of health and social supports to people who are unhoused or at risk of losing their housing. The intention of the ISF is to create a system where people in need of services and the providers who support them can easily gain access to the right supports at the right time.

Read the Integrated Support Framework

In 2022, government worked with organizations from all regions of B.C. to update the ISF. In total, 100 people from 66 different organizations participated in the engagement sessions. These organizations included First Nations, Health Authorities, government partners and agencies. The engagement input is captured in the What We Heard Report and provided valued learnings that informed the framework.

Read the What We Heard Report.

Outreach programs

Outreach services aim to meet people where they are, whether that's on the street, in a shelter or in a temporary place.

The Homeless Outreach Program helps people find an outreach worker and access immediate supports in their community.
The Homeless Prevention Program supports individuals at transition points who are at greater risk of homelessness (for example, youth transitioning out of foster care). The program provides rent supplements and services to help individuals access the private rental housing market.
Homeless Encampments and Action Response Teams (HEART) proactively coordinate service providers and outreach teams to support encampment response and respond to homelessness in priority communities. HEART members collect and share information about local homelessness; help address the mental health, physical, cultural, and social support needs of people living outdoors; and analyze system gaps and challenges, all with the goal of preventing homelessness and resolving encampments. HEART brings together local outreach teams to provide coordinated, day to day homelessness outreach in the community.
Community Integration Specialists with the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction connect people experiencing homelessness with local agencies and organizations offering supports. Income and Disability Assistance services can be accessed online, in-person at local offices, or over the phone (1-866-866-0800).

Housing Programs

For more information on housing programs in B.C., please access the More Homes for People webpage or BC Housing’s Housing Assistance webpage.

BC Housing is a Crown Corporation that supports social and affordable housing, rent supplements, emergency shelters and outreach for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. BC Housing works with about 800 housing providers and helps more than 121,000 households in communities across British Columbia.

Rent assistance

The provincial government provides rent assistance to thousands of low-income families with children, low-income seniors, and other low-income households.

As of December 31, 2025, there were 26,322 senior households supported through the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) program, 5,111 households supported under the Rental Assistance Program (RAP), 5,004 households supported under the Canada-BC Housing Benefit (CBCHB) – including 1,267 households supported through the CBCHB program stream for Survivors of Gender Based Violence.

This is in addition to rent assistance through the Homeless Outreach Program and Homeless Prevention Program, and in addition to other supports such as the SAJE (Strengthening Abilities and Journeys of Empowerment) program for youth and young adults with care experience in British Columbia.

Rental housing

The provincial government also provides affordable, senior, and social housing throughout the province. To learn more about subsidized housing options available in B.C. and how to apply, visit BC Housing’s rental housing page.

BC Rent Bank

The BC Rent Bank supports a province-wide network of community-based rent banks. This network provides low-interest micro-loans and non-financial services such as credit counselling and financial literacy programs to households during short term financial crises to help with rent and utility payments to maintain housing.

The following sections present information on shelters and housing with supports.

Shelters and housing with supports

B.C. uses a Housing First approach to homelessness. Housing First prioritizes permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness, along with other supports. Once a person's basic needs are met, they are better able to access health, income, social and other supports. B.C.'s Housing First principles were informed by a four-year national study.

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Emergency shelters

Emergency shelters offer temporary shelter, food and other services to people experiencing homelessness. Use the Emergency Shelter Map to locate homeless and emergency weather response shelters across B.C.

The Province, through BC Housing, funded 6,486 shelter spaces in 58 communities throughout B.C. the winter of 2025/26. These include permanent, temporary and extreme-weather response (EWR) shelters, as well as Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) shelter spaces.

For a discussion on the Shelter System, check out BC Housing’s Let’s Talk Housing podcast.

Modular housing

Building modular housing is a fast, efficient way to provide safe housing. Units can be temporary or permanent, and provide 24/7 staffing and supports. The Rapid Response to Homelessness program built over 2,000 modular housing units. That work is summarized in this video by BC Housing.

Supportive housing

Supportive housing helps people experiencing or at risk of homelessness find and maintain stable housing. There are a range of supportive housing options to help people live as independently as possible.

More than 6,850 units of supportive housing have been completed in the Province since 2017 (as of December 31, 2025), with thousands more underway. This is in addition to 1,052 Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) spaces that have opened with 608 of those spaces being temporary housing with supports, described further below.

Spotlights of supportive housing across BC are available on the BC Housing YouTube channel.

Women’s transition housing and supports

Transition houses and safe homes help women who are at risk of or who have experienced violence. Women and children are provided a temporary place to stay along with referrals and help planning next steps.

Through Building BC: Women's Transition Housing Fund, the Province is working in partnership to deliver and operate 3,000 new transition, second stage, and long-term affordable housing spaces for women and children. As of December 31, 2025, 995 units had been delivered, with 467 units underway.

This episode of the Let’s Talk Housing podcast explores what women’s transition housing is, the types of housing and services provided, why this type of housing is critical, and some of the challenges that women at-risk face, particularly Indigenous women.

Complex care housing

Complex care housing addresses the needs of people who aren't adequately served in supportive housing. This type of housing provides long-term care and support to people who may be experiencing:

Mental health challenges
Substance use challenges
A developmental disability
A brain injury

The province began creating complex care housing in 2022, with a goal of providing services for 500 people by 2025. The Province expanded the program in 2023, announcing new purpose-built complex care housing units as part of the Homes for People plan. As of March 31, 2026, 628 people in 23 communities across BC now have access to housing, health, social and cultural supports through Complex Care Housing.

Additional supports

In addition to housing supports, the Province’s cross-Ministry Belonging in B.C. plan to address homelessness includes additional support programs to address other needs that help to maintain housing stability, delivered through partner Ministries and contracted services. These include:

Health supports through Complex Care Housing and Supportive Housing
Additional supports for young people with experience in provincial care through the Strengthening Abilities and Journeys of Empowerment (SAJE) program
Services through the Community Integration Specialists with the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. Income and disability services can be accessed online, in-person at your local office, or over the phone (1-866-866-0800)

Homeless encampments

In the absence of adequate indoor options, people may find shelter or community in encampments. However, encampments are not a safe or suitable form of permanent housing for the people sheltering in them, and for the larger community. Encampments are best resolved and prevented by offering people a pathway out of homelessness.

The province works across ministries, with all levels of government, Indigenous partners, and with local community partners to help people in encampments to:

Stay safe and healthy
Find stable housing
Access support services

HEART & HEARTH programs

HEART and HEARTH are two new programs funded through Budget 2023 that aim to provide people living outdoors and in encampments with better access to a range of support services, new shelters, and housing options. HEART teams are multidisciplinary regional encampment response teams. These teams will be supported by a new funding programs for emergency shelter and housing spaces called HEARTH. Together, these programs will provide rapid supports to people sheltering in encampments and create new spaces to help people move indoors, quickly.

Learn more about Homeless Encampment Action Response Teams (HEART) and Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH).

As of December 2025, there were 1,052 HEARTH units operational across the province, with more underway.

Supporting the Downtown Eastside

The Province is taking a leadership role in supporting community health and safety in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood. Through the DTES Provincial Partnership Plan, the Province is working with the City of Vancouver, Indigenous governments, Indigenous organizations, service providers, and community partners to help DTES residents access integrated housing, health, social and cultural supports.

Read the DTES Provincial Partnership Plan.

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The B.C. Public Service acknowledges the territories of First Nations around B.C. and is grateful to carry out our work on these lands. We acknowledge the rights, interests, priorities, and concerns of all Indigenous Peoples - First Nations, Métis, and Inuit - respecting and acknowledging their distinct cultures, histories, rights, laws, and governments.

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