{
  "id": "people-experiencing-homelessness",
  "category": "Housing and homelessness",
  "title": "People experiencing homelessness during the year",
  "geography": "Capital Regional District (census division)",
  "scope": "region",
  "levels": [
    "Provincial (shelter funding and income assistance)",
    "Municipal and regional (land use and services)"
  ],
  "plain_question": "How many people in the Capital Regional District used a shelter, or were on income assistance with no fixed address, during the year?",
  "value": 2531,
  "display_value": "2,531",
  "unit": "people (estimated, over the calendar year)",
  "period": "Calendar year 2024",
  "period_start": "2024-01-01",
  "period_end": "2024-12-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "Calendar year 2023",
    "previous_value": 2389,
    "change_percent": 5.9
  },
  "trend": "worsening",
  "trend_basis": "2,531 in 2024 compared with 2,389 in 2023 (+5.9%).",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "A lower number means fewer people went through homelessness during the year.",
  "caveats": [
    "This is not a count of people sleeping outdoors. It is an estimate from administrative records: people who stayed at least once in a BC Housing-funded shelter, or who received income assistance with no fixed address for three or more months in a row.",
    "People who are homeless but use neither service (for example, staying temporarily with friends) are not included.",
    "The number can rise when more shelter spaces open and are used, because shelter use is part of the definition.",
    "Geography is the whole Capital Regional District, not the City of Victoria alone.",
    "Estimates are published once a year, with a delay of about a year; 2025 is not yet available."
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2019",
      "value": 1943
    },
    {
      "period": "2020",
      "value": 2038
    },
    {
      "period": "2021",
      "value": 2047
    },
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 2189
    },
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": 2389
    },
    {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 2531
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "BC Stats, Government of British Columbia (with BC Housing and the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction)",
    "url": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/affordable-and-social-housing/homelessness/homelessness-cohort",
    "dataset_url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/annual-estimates-of-the-homeless-population-in-b-c-",
    "download_url": "https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/fbb1584f-7f93-47e7-8001-16e3087bddea/resource/af1592a1-852b-4f1b-bdf9-46454e2c3839/download/hl_geo_summary.csv"
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Open Government Licence - British Columbia",
    "url": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content?id=A519A56BC2BF44E4A008B33FCF527F61"
  },
  "refresh_frequency": "Annually",
  "data_published": "2026-02-26",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-11T06:52:19Z"
}