In 2018, Everyone Counts, the second nationally coordinated Point-in-Time count, surveyed19,536 people across 61 communities about their experience of homelessness. This reportanalyzes responses from those who identified addiction or substance use as a reason for theirrecent housing loss. Key findings from the report are as follows:
- Addiction or substance use was the most commonly cited reason for housing loss. More than a quarter(25.1%) of survey respondents indicated that addiction or substance use was a reason for their most recent housing loss.
- The proportion of male respondents reporting addiction or substance use as a reason for housing loss(27.6%) was higher than the proportions of female (21.0%) and gender diverse respondents (22.7%).
- The proportion of individuals who reported addiction or substance use increased with time spent homeless, from 19.0% at 0–2 months to 28.2% for those who reported over 6 months of homelessnessin the previous year
- The proportion of respondents who reported addiction or substance use was similar between thosewho identified as Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit or Indigenous ancestry) (27.7%) and nonIndigenous (27.2%). However, a higher proportion of Indigenous female respondents reportedaddiction or substance use as a reason for housing loss (27.9%) compared with non-Indigenousfemale respondents (21.4%).
- In communities that conducted 2016 and 2018 Point-in-Time surveys, the prevalence of people whoidentified addiction or substance use as a reason for housing loss increased from 20.9% to 26.0%.Increases were observed for each age group, in particular for youth and adults.
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