This year's Metro Vancouver homeless count found just 29 more people than the previous survey in 2017, but the new addition of a racial identity-focused question revealed that people who identify as Black are disproportionately represented among the region's homeless population. Though only accounting for 1.2 per cent of Metro Vancouver's population, six per cent of the 3,634 homeless people counted in March identified as Black. A full report on the 2020 homeless count due out in the fall is said to include more analysis of this data. "Homelessness continues to be [a] critical issue for which we have not found a solution," said David Wells, chair of the Indigenous Homelessness Steering Committee. The 2020 homeless count in Metro Vancouver identified 1,029 people living on streets and in parks.

Source: CBC News August 06, 2020 00:11 UTC