Canada has a housing crisis. Evidence of this crisis is most visible in the line ups for food banks, for shelters, and in the city streets where many of the homeless pass hours in waiting. In Winnipeg, in winter, even the shelters are frequently forced to turn people away.
The absolutely homeless are just the iceberg tip of the housing crisis. For every person on the street, at least three others are in hidden homelessness, staying in temporary accommodations, on couches with friends or family, and at least ten more are in core housing need living precariously in housing that is unaffordable, overcrowded or in disrepair.