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The total number of homeless people in Ottawa is projected to increase by 58 per cent by 2035 if additional investments arent made in housing.
Homelessness is projected to get much worse if more investments aren't made in housing. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia Homelessness in Ottawa has reached its highest levels ever and will continue to worsen if additional investments arent made in housing, says a new city report.
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The citys 2024 Housing Needs Assessment said that if additional funding isnt put into building homes, shelters and transitional housing, homelessness in Ottawa could increase by 58 per cent over the next decade. There could also be an additional 133,000 people at risk of experiencing homelessness during that time period.
These changes mirror broader affordability pressures and systemic barriers, reinforcing patterns of prolonged shelter stays and limited pathways out of homelessness, the report said.
Shelter demand continues to greatly outpace supply, according to the report. The number of available emergency shelter and transitional housing beds increased from 962 in 2022 to 1,960 in 2024, a more than 103 per cent increase.
However, demand for beds increased from 2,134 to 3,377, a 58.2 per cent increase, during that time.
According to the citys 2024 Point-in-Time count, which was conducted last October, around 2,952 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night. This was a 13 per cent increase since the last PiT Count in 2021 and a 78.5 per cent increase since the 2018 count.
The average nightly occupancy in Ottawas shelter system also increased substantially from the first quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2024. Families made up the bulk of that number from 3,597 people to 5,350, which was around a 48 per cent increase.
Indigenous people remained overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness in Ottawa, the new report said.
They accounted for 19 per cent of people in the 2024 PiT Count despite making up only 2.6 per cent of the citys total population. The report said the total number of Indigenous people experiencing homeless has increased from 335 to 479 in 2024.
Most Indigenous people said low income or high rent costs were a barrier to securing housing. The report also listed several other barriers, including poor housing conditions, a lack of income assistance and mental health challenges.
Research by the Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition highlights a strong connection between mental-health distress and housing insecurity & These intersecting challenges illustrate the need for comprehensive, culturally appropriate supports to improve housing stability for Indigenous communities, the report said.
This advertisement has not loaded yet. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.The report also found that racialized and immigrant populations in Ottawa were increasingly at risk for homelessness.
Racialized people represented more than 56 per cent of the PiT Count in 2024, an increase from 48.1 per cent in 2018.
This was high compared with their non-racialized peers, who represented 29.5 per cent of the PiT Count in 2024, a decrease from 47.6 per cent in 2018.
Around 42 per cent of the total homeless population also identified as an immigrant, refugee or a refugee claimant, due to a substantial influx of newcomers, asylum seekers and refugee claimants in 2023, the city said.
While newcomers face many of the same affordability pressures as other low-income renters, they also navigate other systemic barriers that increase the rate at which they enter homelessness and limit pathways to exiting homelessness, the report said.
Processing times for refugee claims have lengthened in recent years rising from an average of 22 months in early 2023 to 44 months by late 2024 leaving many claimants in legal and financial uncertainty for long periods of time.
When it came to causes of the issue, the report pointed to skyrocketing housing costs in Ottawa.
The report found that the citys average monthly rent increased at a similar rate from $1,045 to $1,691 per month in 2024.
Ottawa also saw a decline in rent prices across all bedroom types between 2024 and 2025, similar to trends in Vancouver and Toronto.
Together, these rental trends indicate a market shift in Ottawa, where affordability challenges persist despite declining prices. While rents have decreased, the overall market remains constrained, affecting accessibility across different income levels, the report said.
Ottawa households have also been spending more of their paycheques towards rent. The proportion of Ottawa households paying $2,000 or more per month on rent more than tripled from 2006 to 2021 (8.1 per cent in 2006 to 28 per cent in 2021).
This suggests that many households may be paying more because they have no other viable options, rather than because they are opting for higher-cost housing, the report added.
The report said Ottawa needs an additional 128,938 units by 2035 to ensure that the housing supply is sufficient to meet growth, address existing shortages and maintain market stability.
This will mean building at least 9,210 per year to meet the minimum housing target. The city averaged just 8,073 new units between 2021 and 2024.
The city also said 28 per cent those new units should be geared towards low-income earners ($822 to $2,056 monthly) while 24 per cent and 18 per cent should be geared for those making a median income ($3,290 to $4,935 monthly) and moderate income ($2,056 to $3,290 per month), respectively.
This adjusted approach reflects an intentional shift toward addressing undersupplied segments of the housing market and aligns with policy goals targeting affordability gaps, systemic inequities, and increasing demand for deeply affordable housing, the report said.
City staff also recommended focusing on high-density dwellings such as apartments and row houses rather than single-detached homes. This is because the demand is expected to rise for smaller, more affordable and flexible housing types.
The report also said Ottawas existing housing stock remains heavily skewed towards single-family homes, which no longer aligns with emerging demographic trends.
City staff recommended that 27 per cent of new units should be one-bedroom units, 32 per cent should be two-bedroom units and 25 per cent should be three-bedroom units.
With a marked rise in one-person households and a decline in larger family households, the current unit mix no longer reflects the needs of the population. This reallocation emphasizes the production of smaller unitssuch as studios and one-bedroom apartmentswhile still maintaining adequate supply of family-sized housing, the report said.
