Number of people living unhoused in Edmonton up 47% in 2024: Data

The number of Edmontonians experiencing homelessness has risen 47 per cent this year, according to data from the city's main housing agency.

In July, Homeward Trust's By Name List counted 4,011 people who were either living unhoused or without stable housing. 

That's up from 2,728 people in January.

Homeward Trust CEO Susan McGee said the data in the count is not definitive, and the rise may be related at least in part to an increase in people seeking services.

"We've not seen this kind of kind of month-over-month consistent increase in any year prior," Homeward Trust CEO Susan McGee said.

"We're seeing people go from eviction to living rough. That is not something that we would have seen the way we see it today."

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The By Name List is a collaboration between 65 social agencies in Edmonton. It uses names and birth dates to get as accurate a count as possible.

In July, it listed 2,259 Edmontonains as being provisionally accommodated, and another 1,752 people were listed as using shelters or living unsheltered.

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Those numbers were each up by more than 500 people from the previous July.

McGee said that increase may be connected to more people seeking services, such as those from the provincial service navigation centre in Edmonton – which the province said has seen around 3,500 visits since opening in January.

Jason Nixon, minister of seniors, community and social services also believes the numbers are skewed by the opening of the hub, saying the number of Edmontonians living unhoused or in shelters has remained relatively stable.

"We actually don't think it has gone up very much," Nixon said. "What you're seeing is us getting better data on people that need help."

Encampment strategy

Nadine Chalifoux, chair of the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ECHH), believes the numbers may be higher.

"The more (encampment) evictions we're giving out, the more likely we're missing people," Chalifoux said, adding community members are increasingly scared to stay in one spot.

"If they see a cop, they've got to pack up," she said. "They're afraid they're going to get all their stuff taken away, and they have to run and find a new place to hang out."

Edmonton ramped up its encampment response last year, with police and city staff clearing 2,663 encampments.

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This year is on track to double that, with 3,819 encampments dismantled between Jan. 1 and Sept. 8.

Chalifoux worries the increasing fear and distrust regarding encampment clearings will put more people in more precarious situations during the upcoming winter.

"We had a high record amputation over this last winter due to partially the decampments, the pushing people around to other parts of the city – losing their shelters, losing their protection, losing their belongings.

"We're creating a much more dire, vulnerable society than we ever have."

In the 2021-22 fiscal year, Alberta Health Services saw a sharp increase in the number of frostbite-related amputations, up to 91 from 40 the year before.

In the nine years prior to that, Edmonton averaged around 23 per year. At the time, the agency said the rise was attributed to the growing number of unhoused people exposed during winter.

During the 2022-23 fiscal year, AHS reported 96 amputations related to frostbite in Edmonton, with 63 per cent involved people with no fixed address.

This year, between April and September 2024, AHS had already recorded 47 frostbite-related amputations, with 60 per cent involving people with no fixed address.

The City of Edmonton said it will continue with its extreme weather response this winter when temperatures drop below -20 C with windchill for three or more consecutive days.

It did not say if the response would be adjusted given the increased number of frost-bite related amputations in the past two years.

The most recent data on the Government of Alberta website shows Edmonton as having 1,801 shelter spaces at the end of July. 

Another 120 spaces will open in the fall at the new Hope Mission shelter near Yellowhead Trail and 149 Street.

Nixon said those spaces are more than enough to meet the current need of around 1,700 people the province has recorded as living unhoused or in shelters.

Homeward Trust will complete its Point in Time Count and Survey in October, which McGee said will offer more detailed information on the size and complexity of the community.