Early results from the City of Vancouver’s homeless count on March 23, 2010 show the number of people sleeping on the street has dropped substantially due to the opening of new shelters and interim housing measures, but the number of people who are homeless has increased since 2008.

“The preliminary numbers from the homeless count show that although the City’s support for temporary shelters is helping to get people off the street, there is still a lot of work to be done to create housing,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The shelters are working but we urgently need new housing, both interim and permanent, to seriously reduce the number of people who are on the street.”