The City of Ottawa has conducted a count of the city’s homeless population at a time when people experiencing or on the verge of homelessness say housing is precarious.

CBC News followed one of the City of Ottawa’s outreach teams during the 24-hour point-in-time count Thursday and spoke to people affected by homelessness.

Rob Main is dealing with a poor housing situation in downtown Ottawa. He said his house is torn down and he needs to find somewhere else by the end of November.

Main added that it’s “very hard” to find a place right now.

“The rents are so terrible right now, you can’t afford a place. You can’t even get a one-bedroom, one-bedroom — it’s going to cost you two thousand dollars,” Main said.

Heather Uniat, a woman experiencing homelessness in downtown Ottawa, said she just needs a guarantor to get an apartment right now.

Uniat said he has been homeless for five months.

She said it’s important to get a snapshot of the city’s homeless population because people’s housing situations can change so quickly.

“I was absolutely stunned the day I was evicted,” Uniat said.

Homelessness is on the rise

City of Ottawa staff participating in a homeless count this week say anecdotally that the number of homeless people has increased over the past three years.

The point-in-time count, the first since 2021, began at noon on Wednesday and ended at the same time on Thursday.

That count is important to identifying the total number of homeless people and how they got there, according to Raynor Boutet, the city’s project leader for this year’s count.

“Trends show that numbers have been steadily increasing over the past three years.”

“It seems like more people are sleeping outside than in shelters,” said Ryan Saunders, supervisor of the city’s community engagement team.

no shelter hidden

Caroline Yabsley, City of Ottawa program manager for community shelter operations, said the data is important, but the survey provides the “who” behind the numbers.

She said the data would help inform both short- and long-term policy to help people experiencing precarious housing or homelessness into more permanent housing solutions.

Boutet said the hardest people to take care of are the “hidden crooks.”

People who are couch surfing, in the prison system or in a hospital are harder to find for the various teams doing the counting.

The survey ends on Monday

While the count itself is being done, the survey, which gathers demographic data about those experiencing homelessness, runs through Monday.

The 29-question survey asks about a person’s history of homelessness, their demographic information, and where they are at the time of the survey.

The last point-in-time count in 2021 found that there were 1,340 homeless people in Ottawa. In 2018, there were 1,400.

City staff say final figures for 2024 will be released in the coming weeks.