The 2020 homeless count is getting underway today (Tuesday) in Burnaby and other Metro Vancouver cities.
The B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association is taking the helm of the regional homeless count on behalf of the Vancity Community Foundation, the designated organization charged with coordinating federal homelessness initiatives.
More than 1,200 volunteers will be participating in the homeless counts in 17 communities in Metro Vancouver, beginning with counting people at shelters the evening of March 3. That will be followed by street surveys the next day from 6 a.m. to midnight.
The count is described as a “conservative, point-in-time snapshot of people who are experiencing homelessness on a given day” in the region.
Organizers list three goals for the project: estimating the population of the homeless community, gaining insights into the demographics of people experiencing homelessness and finding long-term trends.
The count will take place in Burnaby, New Westminster, Delta, Langley city and township, the three North Shore municipalities, Richmond, the Ridge Meadows area, Surrey, the Tri-Cities area, Vancouver and White Rock.
Burnaby’s last homeless count was done in 2017, which found 69 people experiencing homelessness in the city, including 49 who did not have a spot in a shelter.
That was up from 2014, when 58 people experiencing homelessness were found, but down from 2008 (86 people) and 2011 (78).
Results from this year’s count are expected in fall.
