Victoria indicatorsAll measures Homelessness and drugs
People counted as homeless on one night
1,749 people at least
No target found. Who could set one: Province of B.C., Capital Regional District and municipalities. Targets and comparisons
The 2025 count changed its method compared with the 2023 count, so it is not compared with 2023.
Source: Capital Regional District. We read it on Nov 11, 2026.
Over time
People counted on one night (each count on its own; not comparable)
2025 People, by year
- 1,749 people
M municipal election: Oct 15, 2022P provincial election: Oct 24, 2020; Oct 19, 2024F federal election: Sep 20, 2021; Apr 28, 2025
Targets and comparisons
No target found
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.
Documents checked: Belonging in BC, the Province’s homelessness plan (initial phase 2022 to 2025) (2022); Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan (February 2026).
Show the numbers as a table
| Period | Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Count |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,749 |
| 2023 | 1,665 |
| 2020 | 1,523 |
Who decides
Province of B.C. Runs housing programs through BC Housing (the British Columbia Housing Management Commission). Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing Act, s. 5
Show the 3 other bodies and the laws
| Body | What it decides | Law or bylaw |
|---|---|---|
| Province of B.C. | Runs housing programs through BC Housing (the British Columbia Housing Management Commission). | Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing Act, s. 5 Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing Act, s. 10 |
| Government of Canada and Parliament | Must keep a National Housing Strategy with national goals on housing and homelessness. | National Housing Strategy Act, s. 5 |
| Municipal councils of Greater Victoria (13) | Each council decides land use in its own area and makes bylaws for parks and other public places. | Local Government Act, s. 479 Community Charter, s. 8 (3) |
| Capital Regional District Board | Runs a regional housing trust fund that helps fund affordable housing. | CRD Bylaw No. 3266, Regional Housing Trust Fund Service Establishment Bylaw |
Councils: last general local election October 17, 2026; next on October 19, 2030, the third Saturday of October set by the Local Government Act, s. 52. Province: last general election October 19, 2024; next set for October 21, 2028 unless called earlier (Constitution Act, s. 23). Canada: last general election April 28, 2025; next set for October 15, 2029 unless called earlier (Canada Elections Act, s. 56.1).
Each row says what a body decides and links to the law, order or bylaw that gives it that role. It does not say who caused a change: markets, households and other governments also move these numbers. Who decides what, for every measure · How we choose
What this number does not show
- 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.
Two more limits
- A Point-in-Time Count is a minimum: people who are not found or not surveyed are missed, especially hidden homelessness.
- A better measure would be: Shelter occupancy and turn-aways. Not published as data. Not asked for yet.
Not measured yet in homelessness and drugs: hidden homelessness, overdose calls to paramedics in Greater Victoria. See all 17 gaps
In plain words
The minimum number of people found experiencing homelessness on one night in the Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Count, by where they stayed. The count covers the Victoria metropolitan area (13 municipalities and part of one electoral area), not the Gulf Islands or the reserve lands within Greater Victoria.
How we decide “Not comparable”
The 2025 count changed its method compared with the 2023 count, so it is not compared with 2023.
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.
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. The rule.
All notes on this number
Why it matters. It shows how many people were sleeping outside, in shelters or in other temporary places on one night. It is a different measure from the yearly estimate above.
- 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.
A better measure
- What
- Shelter occupancy and turn-aways
- Who could publish it
- Province of B.C. (BC Housing)
- Status
- Not published as data. Not asked for yet.
This page uses the best public number we found. Data requests
Which places
Area: Greater Victoria (CMA), without reserve lands
The count area: Statistics Canada’s Victoria metropolitan area (13 municipalities and part of one electoral area), without the Gulf Islands and without the reserve lands within Greater Victoria.
Included
- The 13 municipalities: Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, View Royal, Langford, Colwood, Highlands, Metchosin, Sooke, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Sidney
- Part of one electoral area (Juan de Fuca), as in the Victoria metropolitan area
Not included
- Salt Spring Island and the Southern Gulf Islands
- The Indigenous reserve lands within Greater Victoria (people from Indigenous communities may have taken the survey outside reserve lands)
- The rest of the Capital Regional District outside the metropolitan area, such as the Port Renfrew area
Official definition
- Capital Regional District: 2025 Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Count Technical Appendix, page 7 (Geographic Definition of the Greater Victoria Region)
- Statistics Canada: Victoria census metropolitan area (CMA 935), 2021 definition
How the agency describes it: Victoria census metropolitan area (Greater Victoria), without the Gulf Islands and without reserve lands (count’s Technical Appendix, page 7).
How we got it
This number is published by the agency as shown; it is not calculated here. The script reads it from the agency’s own document and refuses to show it unless the expected text is found.
Licence and credits
This figure is public but not under an open licence: the agency publishes it for anyone to read, and it is shown here with credit and a link to the agency’s terms. About licences.
- Licence
- Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution. Agency’s terms of use
- Updated by agency
- About every two years; latest release Sep 22, 2025 (date of the agency’s file)
- Retrieved
- Nov 11, 2026, 9:06 PM B.C. time
Source: Capital Regional District, Greater Victoria Point-in-Time Count and Survey Report. Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.
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