Homelessness isn't increasing on the North Shore the way it is in Vancouver.
But the problem also isn't getting better, according to preliminary numbers from the 2014 homeless count released this week.
The count - which attempts to capture a snapshot of the number of homeless over a 24-hour period - tallied 119 people as homeless on March 12. That's slightly down from the 122 homeless recorded in the last North Shore count in 2011 and the 127 recorded in 2008. But it's still more than the 90 people counted in 2005.
Lynne Henshaw, coordinator of the North Shore Homelessness Task Force, said the relative stability in the homeless population is both good news and bad news. It's good news the numbers aren't increasing, she said, but concerning that they aren't going down.
The challenge remains, "What are we going to do about that in our community?" she said.
Numbers of homeless people on the North Shore remained the third highest in the region as a whole.
The vast majority of homeless - 1,798 people - currently reside in the City of Vancouver.
The tally also recorded more than 400 homeless people in Surrey.
Of those identified as homeless on the North Shore, about half were living in emergency shelters while the other half were on the street, couch surfing or finding other ways to get by.
About six per cent of the North Shore's homeless are youth under 25 while about four per cent are First Nations.
Across the region as a whole, the proportion of homeless seniors - defined as those 55 and older - increased, from 16 per cent to 18 per cent of the total.
Numbers aren't available yet to show how many of the North Shore's homeless are seniors, but those who work with them worry it is a growing trend here too.
Leya Eguchi, coordinator of seniors programs at Hollyburn Family Services, says seniors living on limited incomes can find themselves in crisis after being served with an eviction notice or being diagnosed with a medical condition that requires them to pay for drugs.
"That is a real situation that a lot of people are facing," she said.
Tallies of homeless people are generally understood to be a minimum number, rather than a definitive one, said Henshaw.
"You're trying to find a population that's quite transient and difficult to find," she said.
Outreach workers on the North Shore usually guess the number of homeless at between 200 and 300.
A final report in July will include information like how long people have been homeless, what health issues they are facing, their sources of income and the kinds of services they use.
