HRM homelessness nearly doubles over two years, new report shows

CITYnews halifax  By Chris Halef

New statistics detail that the number of people experiencing homelessness in Halifax Regional Municipality has nearly doubled over two years.

The Everyone Counts in HRM Point-in-Time Count Report was conducted in November 2024. The survey happens every several years, aiding policy makers in understanding what they can do more and who is struggling the most in their communities.

The Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia says it’s part of a cross-country effort to measure homelessness in cities across Canada.

Michael Kabalen, the association’s executive director, tells 95.7 NewsRadio the number has nearly doubled since the last count in 2022 — and now stands at a minimum of 1,132 people.

“Which is the bare minimum number. There are people that aren’t in the system we wouldn’t have been able to reach but are still in a state of unhoused,” said Kabalen. “That was significant — it’s more than the population of Mahone Bay. That number are people.”

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Of those who were counted, 1,009 were adults, including 40 unaccompanied youth between the ages of 16 and 24. Another 123 were children.

Kabalen adds that 75 per cent had been homeless for at least six months in the preceding year, compared to 24 per cent in 2022.

Demographically, the count shows that the majority of the people experiencing chronic homelessness identify as white. However, 23 per cent identified as Indigenous, despite making up only 5.5 per cent of the province’s population.

Of the respondents, 11 per cent identified as Black Canadian (10 specifically saying Black Nova Scotian), they too are overrepresented in homelessness data, making up around 2.4 per cent of the population.