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Preventing and reducing homelessness: An integrated data project

Last updated on March 7, 2024

The Province is undertaking an innovative data project to better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C.

On this page:

Introduction

The Preventing and Reducing Homelessness Integrated Data Project aims to better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C. using de-identified provincial administrative data to get a more complete picture of who is experiencing homelessness.

To date, the project has generated estimates of the population of individuals living in British Columbia who experienced homelessness in 2019, 2020, and 2021. 

Latest findings

In 2021, 26,240 individuals are estimated to have experienced homelessness in British Columbia.

Men aged 25 to 54 made up 48% of the total population estimated to have experienced homelessness in 2021.

Of individuals estimated to have experienced homelessness in 2021, slightly more people are estimated to have experienced chronic homelessness (55%) than non-chronic homelessness (45%). This is similar to the patterns observed in the 2020 estimates.

Entering and leaving homelessness: early findings

With three years of data, the Preventing and Reducing Homelessness Integrated Data Project has begun to investigate people’s entries and exits from the experience of homelessness.

It is important to note that leaving homelessness does not necessarily mean the individual obtained housing. Further analysis is under way to understand the experiences of individuals who no longer appear in the data and those who have re-entered the cohort. Homelessness is often cyclical in nature and remaining stably housed can take several attempts. It is hoped that by uncovering population-level patterns and trends, better interventions can be designed to prevent and address homelessness and support individuals to remain stably housed.    

These preliminary findings are shared in the 2021 Estimate of the Homelessness Population. 

  • Of the 26,240 individuals estimated to have experienced homelessness in 2021, 40% (10,424) did not meet the definition of experiencing homelessness in 2019 or 2020.
  • Of the 24,2470 people who experienced homelessness in 2020, 41% (10,013) were not identified as experiencing homelessness again in 2021.
  • 1,559 individuals who previously experienced homelessness in 2019, but not 2020, were identified as having experienced homelessness again in 2021.

Read more about the project findings in the following documents:

Project overview

The Preventing & Reducing Homelessness Integrated Data Project was initiated in 2019 through a partnership between the Ministries of the Attorney General and Responsible for Housing (now the Ministry of Housing), Social Development and Poverty Reduction (SDPR),  Citizens’ Services, and BC Housing to create a reliable cohort research dataset to help the Province better understand, respond to, and prevent homelessness in B.C. 

For the purposes of this project, an individual is considered to have experienced homelessness if at minimum they have: 

  1. Spent three consecutive months on social assistance with a No Fixed Address (NFA) flag;  
  2. Stayed one night in a BC Housing-affiliated shelter; or  
  3. Had both experiences 

The data sources used in this project are:

  • SDPR B.C. Employment and Assistance data
  • BC Housing Homeless Individual and Families Information System (HIFIS) shelter data
  • Ministry of Health’s Medical Services Plan (MSP) registry for demographic data

As the project relies on administrative datasets to determine homelessness status, it only captures individuals who have accessed the services described above.

Graphic showing the three data sources that are used to determine the homelessness cohort. The three data sources are: SDPR B.C. Employment and Assistance data, BC Housing Homeless Individual and Families Information System (HIFIS) shelter data, and Ministry of Health Medical Services Plan (MSP) registry for demographic data

Figure 1:  Administrative data sources from across government used to create the homelessness cohort.

Partners

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BC Stats

BC Stats is the provincial government's leader in statistical and economic research, information and analysis. BC Stats has provided the necessary infrastructure to conduct this research with the Data Innovation Program. Additionally, BC Stats has provided data science capacity and expertise to this project, supporting the generation of annual estimates of the population experiencing homelessness in B.C.

 

BC Housing

BC Housing: A Crown corporation that supports social housing, affordable housing, rent supplements, emergency shelters and outreach for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. BC Housing reports to the Ministry of Housing.

 

Ministry of Housing

The Ministry of Housing is responsible for providing British Columbians access to more affordable, safe and appropriate housing through policy and programs, technical codes and standards, and services for landlords and tenants. The Ministry of Housing is responsible for overseeing the implementation of Belonging in BC, the Province’s multi-ministry plan to prevent and reduce homelessness.

 

Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction

As the Ministry responsible for income and disability assistance, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction focuses on providing British Columbians in need with a system of supports to help them achieve their social and economic potential.