On March 3, 97 people were identified as experiencing homelessness in the Gibsons and Sechelt areas.
That point-in-time count showed a 15 per cent increase in people experiencing homelessness over the 84 individuals counted in a similar process in 2020. This year's count is a 70 per cent increase over a total of 57 people experiencing homelessness counted 2018. (In comparison, the 2021 census indicated about seven per cent growth in total population on the Coast between 2016 and 2021.)
BC Housing, the Ministry of Housing, and the Homelessness Services Association of BC collaborated on the count on the Coast and in 19 other communities throughout the province this year. The results were released Oct. 5 in a report that qualifies its numbers with the statement that “point in time counts are an undercount” as they represent only those individuals identified during the selected 24-hour period.
Most counted not recent arrivals
The perception that most of the people who are unhoused in the area are recent arrivals to the Coast is not borne out by the 2023 count results. Those indicate 95 per cent of respondents said they had resided locally for more than a year. Of those, 69 per cent stated they had lived in the area for at least five years and 29 per cent reported they “have always been in the community."
“Compared to 2020, fewer respondents have been in the community for less than six months, and more have been in the community for more than a year, suggesting most people experiencing homelessness in Sechelt and Gibsons were in Sechelt and Gibsons the last time they were housed,” the count report stated.
There was also a shift between the latest two count periods in the number of persons who identified themselves as Indigenous. This year, Indigenous people represented 44 per cent of people experiencing homelessness counted, compared to 24 per cent in the previous count. In 2023, those participating in the counts throughout the province were asked whether they, a parent, or grandparent had attended a residential school. On the Coast, 59 per cent of participants identifying as Indigenous responded yes.
Demographics
Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of the local people enumerated in 2023 were adults. Seniors (those older than 55) made up 24 per cent and youth (comprised persons younger than 25) made up the remaining 12 per cent. The number of youth counted rose from eight per cent over the number counted in 2020. The percentage of seniors increased by a single per cent and the adult count was down from 69 per cent.
Persons who identified themselves as male made up 69 per cent of those counted and those identifying as female accounted for the remainder. Those percentages were consistent with 2020 numbers.
Reasons behind homelessness
In responding to an ask about why they are experiencing homelessness, close to half (43 per cent) cited a lack of income. This was despite 95 per cent of respondents stating that they had at least one source of income, such as employment, pension, disability or income assistance and 22 per cent reporting having either a full or part-time job. In 2020, insufficient income was reported as the primary factor by 31 per cent of the people experiencing homelessness counted locally and the percentage of those employed was at 21 per cent.
About a quarter (26 per cent) of this year's respondents attributed the lack of housing to substance use issues. That is up from 15 per cent who cited that factor in the previous count. Conflicts with landlords and concerns about the safety of their last accommodations were factors cited equally in the remainder of the 2023 responses.
Added to the homeless count questionnaire in 2023 was a question about where respondents had stayed in the past year. More than half (59 per cent) of Coast respondents replied they had used homeless shelters. The option of staying “at someone else’s place” received the same volume of responses. Sheltering in vehicles or outdoors was something 39 per cent of local respondents said they had had done in the past year.
