Toronto Homeless Survey

Toronto's first-ever homeless census has been completed. The results are an interesting set of numbers.

From TheStar.com:

The survey, which cost almost $90,000, does manage to settle one controversial issue: the actual number of homeless in Toronto.

It estimates that on the night of April 19, when the study was done, there were at least 5,052 homeless people in Toronto — 3,649 in 66 homeless shelters (72 per cent), 818 (16.2 per cent) on the streets, and others staying in such facilities as correctional centres, hospitals and abused women's shelters.

The survey actually counted 566 homeless staying outdoors that night, but that number was adjusted to 818 to account for those people likely missed.

Fifty-one per cent of the homeless on the street that night responded to the survey, while it was answered by 43 per cent of the overall homeless population. The survey was conducted by 750 volunteers and 336 team leaders who were divided up into groups.

Therefore, 1,086 survey workers found 566 homeless people on the streets and 3,649 at shelters in a city of 2.5 million. Understandably, due to the transient nature of homeless populations, the survey included a certain amount of guesswork or extrapolation. Nonetheless, the data will be useful when coupled with the results of future surveys.