{
  "id": "point-in-time-count",
  "parent": "people-experiencing-homelessness",
  "category": "Homelessness and drugs",
  "title": "People counted as homeless on one night (Point-in-Time Count)",
  "geography": "Victoria census metropolitan area (Greater Victoria), without the Gulf Islands and without reserve lands (count’s Technical Appendix, page 7)",
  "scope": "region",
  "levels": [
    "Regional (CRD coordinates the count)",
    "Federal (Reaching Home program)"
  ],
  "plain_question": "On one night, at least how many people in the region were experiencing homelessness?",
  "value": 1749,
  "display_value": "1,749",
  "unit": "people at least, on March 25, 2025",
  "period": "March 25, 2025",
  "period_start": "2025-03-25",
  "period_end": "2025-03-25",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "March 25, 2025",
    "previous_value": 1749,
    "change_percent": null
  },
  "since_text": "Unsheltered 318, shelters 493, couch surfing 73, public systems 112, transitional 750",
  "trend": "context",
  "trend_basis": "At least 1,749 people were experiencing homelessness in the region on the night of March 25, 2025: 318 unsheltered, 493 in emergency shelters, 73 couch surfing, 112 in public systems (such as hospital or jail) and 750 in transitional housing. The report notes that the categories do not add up to the total.",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "Shown for context, without a “better” or “worse” label: the count method changed in 2025, so it is not compared with earlier counts here.",
  "caveats": [
    "Area: the count’s Technical Appendix (page 7) says the Point-in-Time project for Greater Victoria refers to the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area, which excludes the Gulf Islands, and does not include the Indigenous reserve lands within Greater Victoria.",
    "A Point-in-Time Count is a minimum: people who are not found or not surveyed are missed, especially hidden homelessness.",
    "It is a different measure from the yearly BC Stats estimate (“People without a home during the year”), which counts everyone who used a shelter or received income assistance with no fixed address at any time in the year. Both are shown.",
    "Counts happen about every two years; the 2025 count changed its method compared with 2023.",
    "Earlier counts, from the CRD’s 2023 release: 1,665 on March 7, 2023 and 1,523 in March 2020. The CRD says: “Due to changes in methodology, these two numbers should not be cited to suggest trends in the region, but more accurately indicate the number of people able to be reached in one day.” They are shown as earlier counts only, and no change is calculated."
  ],
  "earlier_counts": [
    {
      "period": "2020",
      "value": 1523
    },
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": 1665
    }
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "People counted on one night (each count on its own; not comparable)",
      "fmt": "int",
      "unit": "people",
      "breaks": [
        {
          "period": "2023",
          "label": "Method changed"
        },
        {
          "period": "2025",
          "label": "Method changed"
        }
      ],
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Count",
          "area": "crd",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 1523
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 1665
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 1749
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2025",
      "value": 1749
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "About every two years",
  "source": {
    "name": "Capital Regional District, Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Count and Survey Report",
    "url": "https://www.crd.ca/media/file/2025-greater-victoria-point-time-homelessness-count-and-survey-reportpdf",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.crd.ca/media/file/2025-greater-victoria-point-time-homelessness-count-and-survey-reportpdf",
    "download_url": "https://www.crd.ca/media/file/2025-greater-victoria-point-time-homelessness-count-and-survey-reportpdf",
    "also": [
      {
        "name": "CRD news release, 2023 Point-in-Time Count results (earlier counts)",
        "url": "https://www.crd.ca/news/2023-greater-victoria-point-time-count-results-announced"
      }
    ],
    "publisher_page": "https://www.crd.ca/",
    "page_url": "https://www.crd.ca/media/file/2025-greater-victoria-point-time-homelessness-count-and-survey-reportpdf#page=6",
    "page": 6,
    "locator": "Capital Regional District count report, page 6, total for the night of March 25, 2025",
    "reads": "“The night of March 25, 2025, at least 1,749 people were experiencing” homelessness"
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www.crd.ca/disclaimer",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "The night of March 25, 2025, at least 318 493 73 112 750 1,749 people were experiencing Unsheltered Emergency Shelters Couch Surfing Public Systems Transitional Housing",
    "conducted on the evening of March 7 and identified 1,665 people who were without a home and experiencing a variety of circumstances. This compared to 1,523 in March of 2020.",
    "Due to changes in methodology, these two numbers should not be cited to suggest trends in the region, but more accurately indicate the number of people able to be reached in one day."
  ],
  "data_published": "2025-09-22",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-12T04:06:42Z",
  "attribution": "Source: Capital Regional District, Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Count and Survey Report. Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "licence_type": "public",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "outcome",
  "better_measure": {
    "what": "Shelter occupancy and turn-aways",
    "who_could_publish": "Province of B.C. (BC Housing)",
    "status": "Not published as data. Not asked for yet."
  },
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "A one-night count that depends on outreach and weather; shown for context.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": null,
    "five_year": null
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "context",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "nc",
    "label": "Not comparable",
    "vs": "2023",
    "why": "The 2025 count changed its method compared with the 2023 count, so it is not compared with 2023.",
    "long_why": "The count changed its method in 2025, so earlier counts are not compared with it."
  },
  "data_published_basis": "file dated",
  "geography_source": {
    "name": "Capital Regional District, 2025 Greater Victoria Point in Time Homelessness Count and Survey: Technical Appendix",
    "url": "https://www.crd.ca/media/file/2025-greater-victoria-point-time-homelessness-count-and-survey-technical-appendixpdf",
    "page": 7,
    "reads": [
      "the Point-in-Time project for Greater Victoria actually refers to the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which excludes the Gulf Islands.",
      "This Point-in-Time Count does not include the Indigenous reserve lands within Greater Victoria."
    ],
    "file_dated": "2025-09-22",
    "read_at": "2026-11-12T06:12:00Z"
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 5,
    "rung_name": "No target found",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "none",
        "label": "No target found",
        "text": "No target for the number of people experiencing homelessness found in Belonging in BC (the Province’s homelessness plan) or the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan (February 2026), as of November 12, 2026. Who could set one: the Province of B.C., the Capital Regional District and municipalities.",
        "area": "British Columbia",
        "source": {
          "title": "Belonging in BC, the Province’s homelessness plan (initial phase 2022 to 2025)",
          "publisher": "Province of B.C.",
          "date": "2022",
          "url": "https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/BelongingStrategy.pdf",
          "terms": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
          "refresh": "Not on a schedule",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "belonging"
        },
        "documents_checked": [
          {
            "title": "Belonging in BC, the Province’s homelessness plan (initial phase 2022 to 2025)",
            "publisher": "Province of B.C.",
            "date": "2022",
            "url": "https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/BelongingStrategy.pdf",
            "terms": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
            "refresh": "Not on a schedule",
            "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
            "checked": "2026-11-12",
            "key": "belonging"
          },
          {
            "title": "Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan",
            "publisher": "Province of B.C.",
            "date": "February 2026",
            "url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2026/sp/pdf/ministry/hous.pdf",
            "terms": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
            "refresh": "Yearly, with the provincial budget (February)",
            "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
            "checked": "2026-11-12",
            "key": "hous_sp"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "kind": "related",
        "label": "Related target",
        "text": "Related target, not drawn: Canada’s Reaching Home strategy aims to reduce chronic homelessness by 50 percent by 2027-28, across Canada. It covers chronic homelessness only, so it does not fit a count of everyone experiencing homelessness.",
        "area": "Canada",
        "source": {
          "title": "Overview of Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy",
          "publisher": "Government of Canada",
          "date": "August 2022",
          "url": "https://www.canada.ca/en/housing-infrastructure-communities/news/2022/08/overview-reaching-home.html",
          "terms": "https://www.canada.ca/en/transparency/terms.html",
          "refresh": "Not on a schedule",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "reaching_home"
        },
        "documents_checked": null
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "rung": 2,
      "kind": "related",
      "label": "Related target, not drawn: Canada’s Reaching Home strategy aims to reduce chronic homelessness by 50 percent by 2027-28, across Canada. It covers chronic homelessness only, so it does not fit a count of everyone experiencing homelessness.",
      "short": null,
      "document": "reaching_home",
      "page": null,
      "area": "Canada",
      "fit": "text_only",
      "same_area": false,
      "related_reason": "Different unit, definition, period or area; written under the chart, not drawn.",
      "document_url": "https://www.canada.ca/en/housing-infrastructure-communities/news/2022/08/overview-reaching-home.html",
      "applies_here": false,
      "same_measure": false
    }
  ],
  "highest_rung": 5,
  "no_target_found": {
    "documents_checked": [
      "belonging",
      "hous_sp"
    ],
    "checked_on": "2026-11-12",
    "who_could_set": [
      "Province of B.C., Capital Regional District and municipalities"
    ]
  },
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "BC",
      "name": "Province of B.C.",
      "decides": "Runs housing programs through BC Housing (the British Columbia Housing Management Commission).",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "mlpha5",
          "label": "Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing Act, s. 5",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96307_01#section5"
        },
        {
          "key": "mlpha10",
          "label": "Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing Act, s. 10",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96307_01#section10"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "CAN",
      "name": "Government of Canada and Parliament",
      "decides": "Must keep a National Housing Strategy with national goals on housing and homelessness.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "nhsa5",
          "label": "National Housing Strategy Act, s. 5",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/N-11.2/FullText.html"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "MUN",
      "name": "Municipal councils of Greater Victoria (13)",
      "decides": "Each council decides land use in its own area and makes bylaws for parks and other public places.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "lga479",
          "label": "Local Government Act, s. 479",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14#section479"
        },
        {
          "key": "cc8p",
          "label": "Community Charter, s. 8 (3)",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/03026_02#section8"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "CRD",
      "name": "Capital Regional District Board",
      "decides": "Runs a regional housing trust fund that helps fund affordable housing.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "crd3266",
          "label": "CRD Bylaw No. 3266, Regional Housing Trust Fund Service Establishment Bylaw",
          "url": "https://www.crd.ca/media/file/3266-consolidated-capital-regional-district-regional-housing-trust-fund-service"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "Province of B.C.",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "nc",
    "label": "Not comparable"
  },
  "label_long": null,
  "target_line": {
    "form": 4,
    "text": "No target found",
    "target": null,
    "gap": null,
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": false,
    "note": null
  }
}