Counting the Undercounted: Enumerating Rural Homelessness in Canada

Until recently, homelessness in Canada was largely considered to be an urban phenomenon. This assumption has been reinforced by homelessness interventions that primarily focus on urban areas. The past decade has seen a steady increase in research and reports on rural homelessness, using primarily qualitative methods. Recently, there have been some efforts to develop enumeration methods to measure and describe the scale and scope of rural homelessness. These enumerations have resulted in unprecedented availability of quantitative data on the number and characteristics of people experiencing homelessness in rural Canada. In this article we report on research which collected and analyzed data from Canadian rural homelessness enumerations. Significantly, these reports show per capita rates of homelessness in rural communities that are higher than those seen in Canada’s largest urban centres. These enumeration reports also show that a significant percentage of persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) in rural Canada are unsheltered and fall into the category of absolute homelessness. This research provides a snapshot of rural homelessness that is contrary to the dominant narrative of predominately “hidden homelessness” in rural communities. We suggest adjustments to policy and funding of homelessness programs that consider this evolving knowledge about the scale and scope of homelessness in rural Canada.