The 7 Cities on Housing & Homelessness Release Preliminary Homeless Count Numbers

Alberta's 7 Cities on Housing and Homelessness are the lead organizations responsible for the implementation of local Plans to End Homelessness in Calgary, Edmonton, Wood Buffalo, Grand Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer. The 7 Cities coordinate local plans at a systems level and align funding resources for greater impact and progress toward ending homelessness.

On October 19, 2016, the second provincially-coordinated Point-In-Time Homelessness Count was conducted in each community. This count serves two important functions: it provides a current snapshot of our overall homeless population and enables us to examine how this population changes over time. By aligning methods across Alberta’s cities, we can examine trends using similar definitions. Ultimately, this helps us inform solutions to support the goal of ending homelessness in our communities.

In 2014, Alberta was the first jurisdiction in Canada to implement measures toward a more standardized Point-in-Time Count methodology. In collaboration with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and federal government partners, there is now movement toward a harmonized approach to homeless counts nationally.

This report presents initial findings of the Homeless Count; a more detailed analysis will be released early next year.

Publication Date: 
2016
Location: 
Alberta, Canada