Victoria councillor seeks to establish ‘By-Name List’ of city’s unhoused population

A motion is being put forward to better track the number of unhoused people in Victoria.

In this week’s committee of the whole meeting, Councillor Krista Loughton has put a motion forward that would seek to establish a ‘By-Name List’ (BNL) of Victoria’s unhoused population.

Loughton believes a BNL would be an asset, and would function as a real-time database of every unhoused individual in a community to be used to address and prevent homelessness. 

Currently, the Greater Victoria Point-in-Time (PiT) homeless count and survey is the metric municipalities in the capital region use as a metric when creating policies related to unhoused community members. 

The PiT occurs once every three years, and Loughton believes that more could be done. 

In 2025, the PiT determined that at least 1,749 individuals in Greater Victoria are experiencing homelessness. 

If established, a BNL could provide local governments with accurate data on “inflow,” or people newly entering homelessness, as well as “outflow,” people being housed or otherwise exiting the system. 

“This real-time data allows decision-makers to evaluate system performance, identify bottlenecks and allocate resources where they will have the most immediate impact,” reads Loughton’s motion. 

“The BNL system also helps ensure that housing placements and supports are matched to people based on their specific needs, so individuals have the best chance of success.” 

She also noted that this data is critical to understanding factors such as who is being housed, where individuals are migrating from and whether those who have experienced chronic, long-term homelessness are being prioritized for support. 

Ultimately, Loughton’s motion seeks to create a system that would provide council with the precise data necessary to measure progress and ensure resource allocations are driving measurable results. 

Her motion’s recommendation calls on council direct staff to work with community and government partners as needed to set up a By-Name List for the unsheltered homeless population in Victoria and report on its status monthly. 

Loughton’s motion will be discussed in the committee of the whole meeting slated for Thursday, July 30th.