The Housing Justice Project

Our region has been conducting estimates of people who are homeless for almost 20 years. The first, in 2007, estimated there were 1,500 people experiencing homelessness. (City of Victoria, 2007) This year, there are an estimated 1,749. Despite an apparent lack of progress, we ask you to avoid taking the easy path to cynicism. It is not only possible to end mass homelessness, it is an urgent imperative.

We invite local leaders to join with us, lived experts of homelessness, in adopting much greater urgency and focus to preventing and ending mass homelessness in our region. That means a much sharper focus on the housing shortages for very low-income households. How many and what kinds of homes, at what rent prices, are needed to prevent and end mass homelessness? All elected leaders in our region, whether local, provincial, or federal should be able to answer this question. The answer should always be in focus.

According to Census 2021, there is a shortage of 17,985 homes in Greater Victoria with monthly rents that are less than $1,063. (Housing Assessment Resource Tools, nd) What it all means is we must spend less on band-aid solutions that perpetuate, rather than end, homelessness. Build homes, not shelters. In the face of such an extreme shortage of low-income housing, “transitional housing” begs the question: transition to what?

This year’s count identified at least 750 people residing in transitional programs: temporary facilities with no hope of securing a real, permanent home. This form of homelessness deserves much more attention; this is where many people cycle in and out of the street. All forms of homelessness are unsafe, need immediate attention, and can be solved with affordable, adequate homes. Too often, shelters and transitional programs lack privacy, supports, doors that lock, adequate hygiene facilities, and basic requirements that most people associate with the concept of housing. These inadequacies prevent healing, family reunification, wellbeing and community connections. We learned that nearly 1 of every 8 survey respondents have been discharged from hospitals into homelessness. This is one example of many numbers you will read in this report. Each number represents a human life that deserves your attention.

Consider:

“This past summer my daughter’s dad lost his place and someone stabbed him. He had to have his whole stomach opened up and stapled back together at the hospital. We asked if the hospital had any housing options for him to go to because they were only going to keep him for three days max. They had no help for him so he was discharged back onto the streets.”
(Member, Housing Justice Project)

Imagine recovering from surgery while living on a sidewalk.This is the grim reality of homelessness. When you are homeless, you are much more vulnerable to injury and illness, and finding a safe space to recover is impossible.

Why are we allowing this to continue? Where is the moral clarity? Where is the political leadership and responsibility?

Indigenous people continue to be over-represented in homeless counts. Nearly 30% of those who are homeless in our community are Indigenous, despite being only 5% of the population. Indigenous experiences of homelessness are shaped by current and past laws and policies that separate Indigenous people from their land, culture, language, and family.

Jennifer shares some of her experiences to help you understand Indigenous youth homelessness:

Jennifer is a proud mother and accomplished Kwaguilth artist with several murals in Victoria. Her homelessness started when she was 10 years old and taken from her home in Gwayasdums (Guilford Island) and brought to Victoria. Foster homes failed her and Jennifer became homeless shortly after arriving in the city. She slept in Salvation Army donation boxes, under the Bay Street bridge, and in stairwells, and spent decades in and out of child welfare, healthcare facilities, emergency shelters, and women’s transitional housing. All were destabilizing, physically dangerous, and culturally unsafe. All failed to end her homelessness. Finally, in her early forties, a support worker from the Victoria Native Friendship Centre encouraged her to persist in applying for low-income housing. After six years of applying, she was offered subsidized Indigenous housing.

Nobody should have to be homeless for decades and nobody should have to wait six years for permanent housing. In a disconcerting pattern, nearly half of all who are unhoused in Victoria had their first brush with homelessness when they were under the age of 24, a shocking statistic that has not budged since at least 2023. (Davis, et al, 2023)

We’re very concerned about elders experiencing homelessness. B.C. seniors advocate Dan Levitt is receiving more and more calls about seniors and homelessness. (Harnett, May 2, 2025) The survey results tell us we have made no progress as a community in preventing seniors from falling into homelessness. Twenty-five percent of survey respondents are seniors and many had their first encounter with homelessness when they were over 55 years old. This happened to 8% in 2025, 7.5% in 2023, 7.1% in 2020, and 7.6% in 2018. Another unsettling and stubborn statistic.

We chose to highlight a few different socio-cultural experiences of homelessness because the more we understand each other, the better able we will be to work together on solutions. There is a huge diversity of people who are homeless. There are not “good” homeless and “bad” homeless. Everyone deserves decent, safe housing. Everyone needs safe, secure homes fortheir well-being and to participate in society. As survivors of homelessness, we don’t pass judgment on how anyone survives the terrible, unsafe, and oppressive circumstances of homelessness. And we invite you to do the same and to turn your focus on solutions, not judgment.

There’s a count of people who are homeless, but, just as importantly, we need a count of the number of homes needed to end and prevent mass homelessness. The current shelter allowance – income assistance allocated by the government of BC to support housing costs – is just $500 each month. The BC government is not transparent about how many $500-per-month homes they construct annually, but our best guess is that it might be dozens per year. It’s possible they might be demolishing more than they are building. However, based on the low-income affordable housing shortages identified in the 2021 Census we assert that our region needs net new construction of 2,000 homes annually for next ten years that rent for $500 monthly to end and prevent mass homelessness in the Capital Region. If you disagree, we are eager to review your analysis and collaborate on a plan to end homelessness in our region.

As illustrated by our stories, people are in danger because of a lack of housing. We need homes now. Shelters are not homes.
Sincerely,
B. Livingstone, E. Anderson, J. Bradley, J. Johnson, R. de la Rosa, S. Dasta, T. Love on behalf of The Housing Justice Project.

REFERENCE LIST

City of Victoria. (2007). Victoria (B.C.). Mayor’s Task Force on Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness. City of Victoria Archives.
https://archives.victoria.ca/uploads/r/null/2/e/d/2ed42b1873a9972f497b1d44c63f10cb941df3ae085b90466a8fbb0cc2f7fce5/CD-01296_Web.pdf

Davis, L., Pauly, B., Gibson, D., Stancer, D. (2023). 2023 Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Homeless Count and Needs Survey. Alliance to End Homelessness in the Capital Region.
https://victoriahomelessness.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-Point-in-Time-Count-Report.pdf

Housing Assessment Resource Tools. (n.d.) Capital Census Division: 2021 Affordable Housing Deficit. University of British Columbia. https://hart.ubc.ca/housing-needs-assessment-tool/

Harnett, Cindy E., (May 2, 2025) Homeless senior lands at Rock Bay, surrounded by open drug use. Times Colonist
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/homeless-senior-lands-at-rock-bay-surrounded-by-open-drug-use-10602962