Nearly 3K people experiencing homelessness in Ottawa, according to city numbers

The city is preparing to keep the unhoused safe as freezing temperatures arrive in Ottawa (Jackie Perez/CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa has seen a rise in the number of people experiencing homeless in the capital.

A Point-In-Time (PIT) count in October found 2,952 people were homeless, that’s compared to similar previous surveys of 2,612 people in 2021 and 1,654 in 2018.

The data shows that 58 per cent of respondents were between the ages of 25 and 49, with the average age of someone experiencing homelessness for the first time being 32 years old.

Other data includes:

• 56 per cent  of respondents identified as male, 36 per cent as female, and two per cent as Two Spirit, Trans-women, Trans-man, or Non-binary.
• 56 per cent of respondents identified as racialized, and 19 per cent identified as Indigenous or having Indigenous ancestry.

Not being able to afford a place to rent and cost of living increases was noted as a top reason for their housing loss, the city notes.

Speaking to CTV News Ottawa outside the Shepherds of Good Hope, Imre Nagy says he landed here five days ago for the first time.

“I’ve owned a condominium with my first wife. I owned a house with my second in Chapel Hill in Orleans,” he said. “I’ve had a very good life up until about two weeks ago.”

He says after suffering a mental-health episode, and issues with alcohol, he was evicted from his retirement residence outside of Ottawa. He says he has always wondered how people ended up needing support, but now sees it’s easy for many to “slip through the cracks.”

“We need more people to realize that there is an issue,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who are underemployed, living in really bad situations.”

The city says the insights gained from the survey will help guide services, programs and policies to assist people who are currently experiencing homelessness.

Another statistic found in the survey says 42 per cent of the respondents were immigrants and refugees; 56 per cent of those were people who had been in the country for less than a year.

Many people who find themselves sleeping rough have complex health issues, explains Rob Boyd, the chief executive officer for Ottawa Inner City Health, which helps people with those multifaceted needs.

The organization did not help with the survey itself, but he says the data is vital.

“These are really important surveys for us to understand any shifts and changes that are going on within homelessness,” he said.

He adds there is a dire need to provide more housing, and quickly, from all levels of government.

“We need to do a lot more and invest a lot more in permanent supportive housing with wraparound health care supports in order to successfully reintegrate these folks into communities,” he added.

The city’s release says the PIT Count is part of a wider effort nationally to measure the number of people experiencing homelessness in Canada. It was completed between the city’s Housing and Homelessness Services, in partnership with Indigenous Housing Partners. It was done both in person and through survey.

Nagy says he has a pension, and has been set up from transitional living to assisted living. He says he’s thankful and hoping for something more permanent soon.

“It’s not a permanent situation. I want to get to get into a proper retirement setting,” he added. “I deserved that at 69.”