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The next federal census will ask Canadians for the first time if they have experienced homelessness, which Statistics Canada says will “shed light on people who may face significant social and housing challenges.”
Statistics Canada will conduct the next Census of Population in May 2026, and has released its questionnaire ahead of time. The new questions contained in the census will “provide important data to measure Canada’s diversity and support communities across the country,” according to the agency, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The new questionnaire asks if Canadians have lived in a shelter, on the streets, in a makeshift shelter, in a vehicle, or in an abandoned building over the last 12 months.
The questionnaire also questions if Canadians have had to temporarily live with friends, family, or others because “they had nowhere else to live.”
The 2026 census also includes a new question about the “general health status of members of this household,” and a new question about sexual orientation for Canadians 15 years and older. Statistics Canada said the data collected from these new questions will help “fill gaps that other statistical programs cannot address at the required level of detail.”
The census also asks questions about religion, which is typically asked every decade and was included in the 2021 census. Statistics Canada said this question is returning in 2026 to “respond to emerging issues, societal trends and analytical data needs.”
Statisticians have long attempted to obtain an accurate count of homeless populations in Canada. In 2023, a review of Canadian homelessness data by Statistics Canada found that the census was “not an adequate tool to frequently enumerate the homeless population.”
The 2016 census counted 22,190 people in homeless shelters across Canada, while the 2021 census counted a total of 9,275 shelter occupants. Researchers in a “best guess” analysis estimated that the homeless population, including occupants of tent cities, was at about 25,000, while adding that “an average of 235,000 people in Canada experience one of the many types of homelessness each year.”
In 2018, the Canada Revenue Agency counted 35,000 perpetually homeless Canadians and another 50,000 who “on any given night are often temporarily living with family or friends,” according to a study “Ethnography Of Homeless And Housing Insecure Canadians’ Experiences Filing Taxes And Accessing Benefits.”
The Budget Office in 2024 estimated that federal aid had reduced the “point-in-time count of homeless persons by about 6,000 people,” but said that numbers had grown overall. Since 2018, the number of homeless people has increased by 20 percent, according to the report “Federal Spending To Address Homelessness.”
The report added that achieving a 50 percent reduction in chronic homelessness would require an additional $3.5 billion per year.
Housing affordability has become a key issue in Canada in recent years, as rising inflation and interest rates coupled with increased immigration has led to skyrocketing housing costs. Asking rental prices rose from a national average of $1,769 per month for a one-bedroom unit in September 2020 to $2,193 in September 2024, according to a report from Rentals.ca. In that same period, the average home price rose from $581,000 to $718,000.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated in a December 2024 report that by 2027, around 2.6 million Canadian households will be in need of “core housing” because their home is either in need of major repairs, does not have enough bedrooms for the household size, or is costing them 30 percent or more of their before-tax income.
