This year’s Point-in-Time (PiT) count results have been announced, revealing that there are at least 1,749 unhoused individuals in Greater Victoria.
Every few years, the Capital Regional District (CRD), in partnership with the Community Social Planning Council (CSPC), brings on a group of volunteers to strategically collect data on how many people are unhoused in the region.
The 2025 PiT Count involved a group of 130 volunteers, spread throughout the CRD, and was conducted on March 25th and 26th.
Their findings represent an increase of at least 4.8%, as the last PiT count indicated there were at least 1,665 unhoused people in Greater Victoria in 2023.
Of these numbers, the PiT count found that at least 318 individuals were unsheltered, 493 were in emergency shelters, 73 said they were couch surfing, 112 were in public systems and 750 were in transitional housing.
The results also found that the majority, 39%, were between the ages of 40 and 55-years-old, and most notably, 30% identified as Indigenous, even though Indigenous people only represent 5% of Victoria’s population.
Additionally, the results found that around 71% identified as men, 23% identified as women and 3% identified as gender-diverse.
The PiT Count is meant to serve as a “snapshot-in-time” of the number of individuals that were able to be counted and the count’s results go on to inform all levels of government in how to approach short and long-term strategies to address homelessness within Greater Victoria.
However, the PiT count results only represent the minimum number of unhoused community members, as it is difficult to accurately count the number of homeless individuals in the region in just one night.
For this year’s count, the CRD and CSPC also partnered with the Housing Justice Project in order to better identify gaps in data collection, counting, analysis, and reporting.
The Housing Justice Project is an independent group of lived experts of homelessness.
“With unsafe conditions in emergency shelters and on the street, people can be forced further out of sight into hidden homelessness,” said Bruce Livingstone, Peer Organizer, The Housing Justice Project.
“Not everyone feels safe disclosing that they are homeless, which is one reason the Point-in-Time count may miss some individuals.”
See the full results of the 2025 PiT count online here.
