The final report on the 2014 Homeless Count in the Metro Vancouver Region was released Thursday (July 31) and confirmed the preliminary findings released in April, of Burnaby’s 58 homeless.
This number confirms a decrease in the city’s homeless, which was down from 78 in the last count in 2011.
The report defines homeless as not having an expected place to stay, and not paying rent, for 30 days.
The report showed that 44 of the 58 homeless in Burnaby were unsheltered.
Unsheltered is defined, primarily, as someone with no physical shelter, such as someone sleeping in a park or couch surfing at someone else’s house.
Thirteen homeless people reported staying in emergency facilities, and one person was of no fixed address.
In Burnaby, 25 of the homeless had lived in the city 10 years or more at the time of the survey. Of the eight people who were new to the city — having lived in the municipality less than one year — all said they came to Burnaby from another part of Canada. Four were from another part of Metro Vancouver, and one was from elsewhere in B.C. None came from outside the country.
There were nine youth and children homeless on Burnaby city streets. Ten seniors and thirteen First Nations people reported being homeless.
Across the Metro Vancouver region, a total of 2,777 homeless people were counted, which is an increase from 2,650 in the 2011 count.
The count is done every three years and took place over a 24-hour period on March 12, 2014.
