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At a virtual event, a research team led by Lawson Health Research Institute announced details of a new project aimed at better understanding how many people in Canada are homeless and who they are. Developing more accurate sources of data related to homelessness helps ensure the proper supports and services are available.   

“The homeless experience varies significantly across Canada, especially within different rural and remote regions of the country,” says Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson and Distinguished University Professor at Western University. 

With funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Homelessness Counts research project builds on past work looking at how existing databases, such as provincial health data, could be better integrated and used as a more accurate, accessible and cost-effective way to determine homelessness.  

Many communities rely on shelter data, but not all regions have shelters and not all people who are experiencing homelessness use shelters even when available. There is also a standard “point in time” method that requires potentially hundreds of volunteers to go out and actually count the people in that area who are homeless.

“Generally, these methods will still miss people who are temporarily staying with others or living in rough or abandoned areas, and is limited to a single point in time – often just one day of counting. It’s often not feasible for smaller communities to do this due to the effort required and it’s a population often missed in our census data,” explains Dr. Richard Booth, Scientist at Lawson and Associate Professor at Western. 

In the initial stages of the project, the team is holding focus groups with several representative communities across Canada to learn more about how data is tracked and accessed. They will consult with groups providing services such as homeless serving agencies, mental health and addiction agencies, hospitals, emergency services and municipal governments. Individual interviews will also be held with people with lived experience of homelessness. 

“To offer effective and efficient services, we need to know how many people are experiencing homelessness, along with their characteristics, location and needs. Right now, it’s difficult to track if things are getting better or worse, or simply changing, and if efforts to reduce the homeless population are making a difference. We don’t fully know the unique challenges of the ‘invisible homeless’ or if different subgroups are emerging,” says Dr. Booth.  

More demographics could be regularly included in the data, for example gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, involvement in the criminal justice system, psychiatric diagnoses, physical diagnoses and housing status.  

The team will bring together this information with existing datasets to improve the performance of an algorithm previously developed through a provincial research study, as well as insights gleaned from a rapid report on COVID-19 and homelessness. Machine learning will be used to generate enhanced risk and burden modeling.  

Dr. Forchuk adds that “homelessness is a complex social problem that touches on many different systems. It is made even more difficult to tackle when we have big gaps in the data. Our hope is to prototype a centralized surveillance system that can be scaled up across Canada to help make the right services available in the right places.”  

A team at Lawson Health Research Institute is hosting forums for communities across the country to better understand homelessness in Canada, including the number of people experiencing it. The first six forums have been scheduled in communities across Ontario, including Thunder Bay, North Bay, Kingston, Chatham-Kent, London and Brantford. These will be followed by future forums in various locations across Canada.

With funding from the Government of Canada, the Homelessness Counts research project is collecting data surrounding the homelessness situation in Canada.

The forums will allow an opportunity for members of the community to come together to discuss issues surrounding homelessness and provide feedback to the research team.

“The homelessness experience varies significantly across Canada, especially within different rural and remote regions of the country,” says Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson. “Developing more accurate sources of data related to homelessness helps ensure the proper supports and services are available.”

This project builds on past work looking at how existing databases, such as provincial health data, could be better integrated and used as a more accurate, accessible and cost-effective way to determine rates of homelessness. This can allow a more accurate picture as numbers continue to rise.

This project has been made possible through funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada and Reaching Home, a community based federal program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness across Canada.

“Homelessness has a direct impact on the health and wellbeing of every Canadian community and further marginalizes vulnerable Canadians. We value the importance of the data collection by Lawson Health Research Institute, as it helps give us a better understanding of the homelessness situation in Canada,” says The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion. “Our government is committed to helping Canadians who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness which is why we are pleased to support this initiative. By working with other orders of government, non-governmental organizations, Indigenous partners and communities, we can increase the availability of safe, inclusive housing options and work towards reducing chronic homelessness in Canada.”

Since January 2021, the team has collected data from 28 distinct communities with homelessness challenges. They have visited a variety of community shelters and organizations to meet with those with lived experience, as well as service providers.

“We have been to every province and territory in Canada to collect data. We have interviewed more than 400 people experiencing homelessness in each community and have had focus groups with 190 service providers,” says Dr. Forchuk.

Preliminary data being presented at the forums will highlight issues by community, however nationally the research team has found that the extent of homelessness is a growing problem and has been elevated during the pandemic. The team has also noted a number of regional differences when it comes to homelessness in respect to urban versus rural communities.

“Our ultimate goal is to gather the most accurate numbers of people experiencing homelessness across the country so we can collectively work together towards solutions, “adds Dr. Forchuk. “Solutions such as an increase of services that are targeted to address specific concerns and vulnerable populations in each unique community.”