Federal pointintime study last done in 2016
A federally funded count of the Kelowna's homeless population shows a 23% increase over the last two years.
The point-in-time count is a snapshot of the city's homeless population over the course of one day – this year it happened March 6th.
Over the course of four hours that day, 83 volunteers found 286 people living either in a temporary shelter, or on the streets.
The numbers show a 70-30 split in men and women, with a quarter of Kelowna's homeless identifying as Aboriginal.
Of the 286 that are described as absolutely homeless, two thirds of are facing it chronically, having been without a home for six months or more over the last year.
It also says there are 319 people described as temporarily housed homeless – that's a 14% increase from 2016.
Earlier this year, Mayor Colin Basran said he thought the report would add context to the city's data, but not tell the whole story.
"The more data we have the better. The point-in-time count though, is often misleading, depending on what time of year it is," he said.
"I don't think it gives us an accurate assessment of how many people truly are, in our community, that are vulnerable or need help. And I think we know now that the number is actually much larger."
Over the last two years, the average time spent homeless has risen, from 192 days to 241.
Of the 132 people surveyed, the top reasons for homelessness were an inability to afford rent, trouble dealing with addiction, and job loss.
Three quarters of people surveyed said they'd been in Kelowna longer than a year, with most of the newcomers coming from other parts of BC.
Kelowna's last count was done on February 24, 2016, and counted 233 homeless people in the city.
