New report shows most Sudbury homeless people are locals

More demographic information from the 2024 point-in-time count is set to hit the council table on May 21, not only showing that the majority of Sudbury’s homeless are local, but that 41 per cent were homeless for the first time before they were 24.   

The point-in-time count is a federally mandated estimate of those experiencing homelessness in each municipality that receives funding from Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. In Sudbury, the count was carried out Oct. 8, 2024 and found 505 people experiencing homelessness in Greater Sudbury. Of these 505, 229 opted to take the survey, which ran Oct. 8-15, 2024. 

Unlike the last survey done in 2021, which revealed that more than 70 per cent of those who completed the survey said they came from out of town, in 2024, 72 per cent of survey respondents stated they had been in Sudbury for more than five years. 

Additionally, only 12 per cent of survey respondents stated they had re-located to Sudbury within the last one to five years, five per cent within the last six to 12 months, and seven per cent within the past three to six months. The survey found only four per cent of survey respondents had been in Sudbury for less than three months.

The majority of those who responded to the survey were single adults (71 per cent) and most were between the ages of 25 and 59 (79 per cent). Of the respondents, 41 per cent had their first experience of homelessness before the age of 24. 

There were 66 families who were homeless, which could consist of “one or more dependent children, another adult, a partner or a pet,” said the report. 

The survey found eight per cent of those surveyed were between the ages of 16 and 24, and 12 per cent were seniors over the age of 60.

There were nine of 229 survey respondents who said they were veterans, had a military background or served in the RCMP, said the report. 

Of the survey respondents, 38 per cent identified as Indigenous and 24 individuals identified as a “racial minority,” said the report; 19 people said they came to Canada as a refugee, immigrant, asylum claimant or through another similar process. 

The data also points to what appears to be a connection to homelessness from the child welfare system, with 35 per cent of respondents stating they had been in foster care or a youth group home with 24 per cent becoming homeless within 30 days of leaving foster care/group home. 

As well, “74 per cent of these survey respondents felt that Child Protection Services was not helpful when transitioning to independence when leaving foster care or a group home,” said the report. 

Survey questions also asked why respondents were homeless at the time, and where they had been staying. 

The main reason respondents stated they lost their housing was due to lack of income (43 per cent); 44 per cent of respondents reported their housing loss was due to an eviction. 

From the total count of 505, 67 per cent of people had been “in an encampment or unsheltered in a public space” and 16 per cent were staying in an emergency shelter, and 17 per cent in transitional housing or “provincial system” (e .g . hospital, corrections facility). 

Self-reports on gender identity showed 33 per cent of survey respondents as women, 63 per cent men and four per cent as two-spirit, trans-women, non-binary (genderqueer), or not-listed. As far as sexual orientation, 90 per cent  of respondents identified as heterosexual while 10 per cent identified as bisexual, gay, lesbian, pansexual, two-spirit, or not-listed.

Concerning “health challenges” as the report describes them, 73 per cent of survey respondents reported a substance use issue and 71 per cent reported a mental health issue; 50 per cent of respondents reported an illness or medical condition and 46 per cent reported physical mobility concerns . 

As well, 36 per cent reported a learning, intellectual/developmental or cognitive function concern, 27 per cent reported an acquired brain injury and 27 per cent of reported “concerns with their senses, such as seeing or hearing.”

And a majority, 84 per cent of survey-takers received some form of social assistance,( e.g. Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program benefits etc.); 59 per cent of those were receiving Ontario Works, specifically. 

In the city staff’s report to council, the key trends highlighted through the count are the continued overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples experiencing homelessness in Greater Sudbury, exits from provincial systems into homelessness, and the ongoing housing, mental health, and addictions crisis. 

“This further highlights the need for strategies that support Indigenous healing and well-being, strategies to strengthen discharge planning from systems, continued investments in housing of all types across the housing continuum (transitional, supportive and affordable housing), and collaborative efforts to improve health outcomes of the unhoused population,” reads the report.   

This data will be used to better inform the city’s $350 million Roadmap to End Homelessness by 2030, an update of which will be presented to council in June 2025.”

Jenny Lamothe covers vulnerable and marginalized populations, as well as housing issues and the justice system for Sudbury.com.