The alarm has been sounded, the flags have been raised, national disasters have been declared, yet the crisis of homelessness has deepened and become more firmly entrenched in our communities and in our psyches. Since 1998, the Regional Advisory Committee on Food and Shelter and the Solutions for Housing Action Committee (SHAC), in partnership with the Social Planning and Research Council have not only been documenting the growing crisis but also advocating for the energy, creativity and especially the resources needed to halt the disaster and solve the problem. The issue is complex, it involves a range of personal tragedies and systemic injustices, which are often intertwined with the two constants to the homelessness crisis, poverty and housing.

This report consists of two main sections. The first is an update and analysis of the homelessness trends in Hamilton that first appeared in Our Homes and Our Streets (SPRC, 1999). It contains statistics on homelessness indicators like emergency shelter use, poverty indicators such as trends in social assistance caseloads, and housing indicators such as vacancy rates and average rents in the City of Hamilton.