How many people are homeless in Toronto? The last count found 15,400.

In April 2021, Toronto’s count found approximately 7,300 people. In October 2024, it found an estimated 15,4001. More than double, in three years.

Who is in that number changed too. The share of people surveyed who were refugee claimants went from 13 per cent to more than half1. And 9 per cent of those surveyed identified as Indigenous, in a city where Indigenous people are 3 per cent of the population. 58 per cent identified as Black, in a city that is 10 per cent Black1.

Central Intake is the City line that refers people to shelter. It handles about 501 calls a day and refers 21.2 people to a space. At the end of the day, an average of 81.4 people have not been matched to one3.

Across Canada, 65,000 people were counted experiencing homelessness on a single night in 75 communities in 20256.

A kit is not housing, and it does not move any number on this page. What it does is get someone through one night outside with a sleeping bag instead of without one.

Engage and Change packs winter survival kits and hands them to the agencies working with those 15,400 people. Since 1999, volunteers and donors have assembled and distributed approximately 45,000 kits to more than 200 front-line agencies across the GTA7. Each kit holds 30+ items, including a sleeping bag and a backpack, and a $50 donation covers one7.

The next pack is Saturday, January 16, 20277.