Phone-in option included for first time in Metro Vancouver homeless count

For the first time ever, a phone-in option will be available for people to complete a survey as part of the Metro Vancouver homeless count.

The count has typically been an annual event but was put on pause during the pandemic. This week it returns for the first time since March 2020.

According to David Wells, chair of the Indigenous Homelessness Steering Committee, more than 1,000 volunteers have signed up to participate in the count, which spans an almost 24-hour period.

Starting Tuesday night, volunteers will visit various shelters across Metro Vancouver to conduct anonymous surveys with people there. The interviews will then continue through Wednesday on the streets. And this year, there’s is a virtual option for those who may be harder to find.

“Folks that may be living out of their home, motorhomes, boats, they may be couch surfing,” Wells said. “It gives those folks an opportunity to call in on the 211 number to complete the survey.”

Wells said the final numbers are “always an undercount” because it’s nearly impossible to find everyone, but it helps to get “a sense of the scope of homelessness.”

The data is used by governments and organizations to inform decision making around services and housing. Vancouver city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung was among the volunteers who participated in the last homeless count, and said it’s a helpful event to inform city policy.

“What the (2020) numbers reveal is that at any given time, Vancouver has about 2,000 homeless people. But if you delve further into the numbers, about nine per cent were youth,” Kirby-Yung said. “From the city’s perspective it can really help us focus our grants and supports.”

There are counts happening in 11 cities across Metro Vancouver this week, in addition to other counts that are either coming up or have already happened in other areas of the province.

Kirby-Yung believes that Vancouver ends up with larger numbers of unhoused people due to the scope of services offered.

“I think it speaks to the need in having services across the region and not just in Vancouver,” she said. “Sometimes we hear that they (unhoused people) are coming because the services are here and they’re not available to them in other cities.”

Given the impacts of COVID-19 and inflation, advocates are expecting higher than normal numbers of people experiencing homelessness. Results of this week’s count will be made available later in the year.