Preventing and reducing homelessness: An integrated data project
Last updated on June 5, 2025The 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 homeless cohort compared to the total provincial population. It is important to note that 2020 was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
[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
Annual Homelessness Estimates & Year-Over-Year Flow (2019–2022)
Reference Population
This means people who had a home during the year. It also includes people who:
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Moved out of the province
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Didn’t access a shelter
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Weren’t receiving social assistance help with no fixed address
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Were deceased
People Counted as Experiencing Homelessness
This means people who either:
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Stayed at a BC Housing affiliated shelter for at least one night
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Received social assistance for 3 or more months in a row and didn’t have a fixed address
The picture above shows how people move in and out of homelessness each year:
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Outflow means people who were counted as experiencing homelessness one year but were not counted as experiencing homelessness the next year.
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Inflow means people who were not counted as experiencing homelessness one year but were counted as experiencing homelessness the next year.
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Net flow means the change in how many people were counted as experiencing homelessness.
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Continued homelessness means people who were counted as experiencing homeless for two years in a row.
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Individuals identified in Multiple Census Divisions | 2,655 | 2,493 | 2,826 | 2,931 |
| % of Grand Total | 10.7% | 10.2% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| Number of Individuals identified in a Single Census Division | 22,062 | 22,013 | 23,550 | 25,779 |
| Grand Total | 24,717 | 24,506 | 26,376 | 28,710 |
Most people experiencing homelessness stay in one Census Division (region) during the year. Only a small number move between regions, and this hasn’t changed much over time. This matches what people report in BC Homeless Counts.
Data is getting better over time. As data improves, past numbers may change slightly. Always check the latest report for the most accurate information.
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:
- 2019: Annual Estimate Report | Technical Report | Appendix
- 2020: Annual Estimate Report | Technical Report
- 2021: Annual Estimate Report* | Technical Report
*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:
- Spent three consecutive months on social assistance with a No Fixed Address (NFA) flag;
- Stayed one night in a BC Housing-affiliated shelter; or
- 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.
Figure 1: Administrative data sources from across government used to create the homelessness cohort.
Partners
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.