Winnipeg street census offers snapshot of city’s homeless during pandemic

A census by End Homelessness Winnipeg, taken this spring during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, is helping to create a snapshot of how many people are homeless in the city — and who those people are.

The Interim Street Census, which was recorded between April 21-22, found of that of 1,100 Winnipeggers, 370 were in unsheltered areas while 300 were in emergency shelters like The Salvation Army and Main Street Project.

It also found 66 per cent were Indigenous.

Almost half of those using emergency shelters were between the ages of 25 and 49, and four per cent were dependent children under 18.

End Homelessness Winnipeg said its data was collected from emergency shelters, encampments, transitional housing, resource centres and unsheltered locations.

Due to it being conducted during the pandemic, the results aren’t as thorough as in past street censuses, but a full street census is tentatively planned for 2022.

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