Housing Initiatives – Community Social Planning Council

2025 Greater Victoria Point in Time Homelessness Count and Survey

On March 25th, 2025, at least 1,749 people were identified as experiencing homelessness in Greater Victoria. The 2025 Point-in-Time Count and Homelessness Needs Survey, carried out by over 130 volunteers and local partners, provides both a snapshot of homelessness in the region and detailed insights into the lives, challenges, and service needs of individuals without stable housing. The survey highlights the barriers people face; including high rent, low income, health challenges, and systemic inequities and emphasizes the urgency of accessible, affordable, and inclusive housing solutions.

This year’s report also sheds light on groups disproportionately affected, including youth, Indigenous peoples, and those with disabilities, while noting troubling increases in safety concerns with shelters and substance use challenges. By amplifying lived experiences, the findings inform decision-makers, service providers, and the broader community in shaping more responsive programs and policies aimed at reducing and ultimately ending homelessness in Greater Victoria.

Report

Appendix

Local Government Levers for Housing Affordability

As we navigate in an era marked by a nation-wide housing crisis, all levels of government are under pressure to address the challenge, although local governments are on the front lines. Municipalities also hold a pivotal role in orchestrating the changes needed to address the affordability challenges facing Canadian cities. This toolkit outlines the many levers within municipal control that can significantly influence housing supply and affordability.

This toolkit is intended to help local governments across Canada, big and small, to understand and utilize all of the tools available to improve housing affordability by:

• providing an overview of tools and their municipal context;
• identifying success factors and key considerations for each of the tools; and
• sharing case studies and best practices that highlight successes in implementing the tools in a range of municipal contexts and for a diversity of housing types.

The optimal use of these municipal tools can change the trajectory of our current housing situation, creating a better future for housing availability and affordability.

Read The Toolkit

Let’s Talk Urban Living With Uytae Lee

Let's Talk Urban Living With Uytae Lee

Join us for an exciting evening as we host our Annual General Meeting and then dive into the world of urban living and civic storytelling with Uytae Lee of popular urbanist YouTube channel About Here. He'll kick off with some Victoria area trivia before exploring topics ranging from housing to transit and beyond, promising an engaging dialogue on the facets that shape our urban experience.

Timing

5:00-5:30pm: AGM, all welcome — if you'd like to sign up as a member to the CSPC, click here.

5:30-6:00pm: Mingling, food and beverages available for purchase — we're pleased to have Maiiz Nixtamal on-site selling fresh tamales, street corn, and chips and salsa!

6:00-7:00pm: Uytae Lee

Venue: Victoria Event Centre, 1415 Broad St, Victoria, BC V8W 2B2

Grab your friends and come join us for a fun-filled evening of captivating stories, great food, and exciting discussions.

About Uytae Lee

Uytae Lee is a columnist and filmmaker whose work covers the complex issues surrounding our cities. He’s the creator of the CBC series ‘Stories About Here’, where he explores topics such as underground streams, zoning reform, public washrooms, street-food, and much much more. In addition to his CBC series, Uytae also produces urban planning documentaries for his own YouTube channel About Here.

Learning From London: Homelessness Hubs + Whole Of Community Response

Join the Community Social Planning Council and the United Way Southern Vancouver Island for an informative, inspiring discussion with leaders in London about their Whole of Community System Response to the homelessness crisis. A regional cross-sector response panel will follow.

With the support of the Fund For Change, a collective of community experts across sectors designed a system response that is first of its kind in Ontario. That group included more than 200 individuals representing nearly 70 local organizations in community health and social services, institutional healthcare, education, emergency services, business and economic development, land and housing development and multiple levels of government. One feature of this response includes a new network of hubs offering comprehensive services to help the most marginalized unhoused Londoners move safely indoors, stabilize, access supports and become sustainably housed.

Speakers

Lynne Livingstone — City Manager of London

Kevin Dickins — Deputy City Manager of London, Social and Health Development

Diane Silva — Director of Philanthropy, London Community Foundation

Steve Cordes — Executive Director, Youth Opportunities Unlimited (hub operator)

Thank you Coastal Community Credit Union!

Facilitating Dialogue Around Affordability

We'd like to say a special thank you to Coastal Community Credit Union (CCCU) for their support of our events dedicated to enhancing affordability across the region. We are grateful to be able to host events through our collaborative regional household affordability and prosperity (RHAP) project, in partnership with local municipalities.

This project aims to share and cultivate best practices in housing affordability and recently published a toolkit on municipal levers for housing affordability, with support from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). To delve deeper into this project, please click here.

Additionally, we actively contribute to the affordability dialogue through our work on the living wage calculation. Discover more about our efforts and impact by exploring the details here.

Coastal Community Credit Union

As a key supporter, Coastal Community Credit Union, the largest Vancouver Island-based financial services organization, stands among the top ten percent of credit unions in Canada by asset size. Noteworthy among their innovations is the introduction of Interactive Teller Machines (ITM) to Vancouver Island.

A testament to CCCU's commitment to excellence, they recently celebrated their fifth consecutive year of being certified as a Great Place to Work, a recognition bestowed by their dedicated and valued employees. Visit their website to learn more.

Building Housing Affordability: Levers for Canadian Municipalities

*This event is for municipal councillors and planners. Please register with your municipal email (ie. planner@city.ca). Personal email addresses may be removed from our registration list to ensure privacy.*

Municipalities are at the forefront of the affordability challenges facing Canadian cities. Join us for a solutions-focused conversation with guest presenters and speakers from across the country.

The Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria is pleased to convene a dialogue with municipal leaders from across Canada on their new toolkit, Local Government Levers for Housing Affordability, which received funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Read the Toolkit

The launch of this toolkit marks a significant step towards a more optimistic future for housing availability and affordability in Canada. By recognizing the vital role of municipalities and providing them with the necessary tools and knowledge, we can collectively address our housing crisis.

This event will feature solutions and insights from municipal councillors and planners who are at the forefront of housing affordability innovation across the country, and will be moderated by the CSPC's Executive Director Diana Gibson. There will be time for an audience Q&A, as well as additional time from 1:00-1:30pm for continued dialogue after the facilitated programming has ended.

Victoria Point-in-Time Count & Survey Results 2023

Final Report 2023

Greater Victoria participated in nationwide PiT Counts in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Point-in-Time counts add essential information to our understanding of how people experience homelessness in our region. This information will assist planners, funders, and agencies in developing appropriate responses to homelessness in our region as well as to measure progress in ending homelessness.

What is involved? The PiT count involves working in small teams to conduct a brief, anonymous survey with people who are experiencing homelessness. The indoor survey is conducted inside shelters and other homeless service facilities, while the outside survey is done outdoors, walking around a specific area or neighbourhood.

Findings from this years PiT count and survey were released on August 3, 2023.

Technical Appendix

Frequently Asked Questions