Number of homeless people in Ottawa has grown to 3,000, local charity says [Video]

The number of homeless people in Ottawa has grown to 3,000 this year, a local charity said in a new report on Wednesday.

Ottawa Mission CEO Peter Tilley said more than 500 of them are living on the streets.

He said the homeless shelter returned to full capacity last year for the first time since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Ottawa is seeing higher levels of food insecurity.

“Food insecurity has risen from one in seven to one in four households,” he said. “Forty-six per cent of those who are homeless stated that they needed support with food insecurity.”

Ashley Potter, manager of front-line services for the charity, said more than 20 per cent of people who seek help from the Ottawa Mission are asylum seekers.

“Mental health distress, substance use, the loss of affordable housing, and food inflation coupled with an influx of asylum seekers meant that …