he true scale of homelessness is being grossly undercounted in official estimates, experts say, leading to a chronic underfunding of programs designed to help unhoused people.

The Kenora District Services Board has long advocated for additional support to address the issue conducting its own study finding skyrocketing rates, particularly in the Dryden area.

The KDSB notes their findings show a crisis facing our region and that doesn’t include the number of people who didn’t participate or who are “couch surfing”.

CAO Henry Wall has stated the homelessness problem will be among the top priorities for 2023 and they won’t let up on lobbying efforts to get more government support.

The most recent statistics of unhoused people nationwide are from 2016 in a Canadian Observatory on Homelessness report, which states more than 250,000 people in Canada experience homelessness in any given year.

According to a 2018 federal government report, on any given night across the country, 25,000 to 30,000 people do not have a place to call home.