A new report by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia says there are more than 1,000 experiencing homelessness in HRM, with more than 700 of those in shelters.

Dozens of homelessness and housing sector staff took part in the Point-in-Time Homelessness Count (PiT) on the evening of October 15 to the morning of October 16 to count the number people who are unhoused throughout the municipality.

Those tallied include both those unsheltered – sleeping in encampments, parks, sidewalks, vehicles and other public areas – as well as those staying in indoor service options.

According to the report, it provides just a “snapshot of the minimum number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night.”

The year-over-year count has increased from 1,132 to 1,150 individuals but does not include what they call, “hidden homelessness”: couch surfing.

To compare to number increases from last year, 23.5 per cent more use shelters, a 128 per cent increase for domestic violence transition houses and 320 per cent more identify as homeless in the hospital system.

The number of people living in encampments also rose 61.3 per cent with a 467 per cent leap for the number of individuals staying in their vehicles.

What did see a 320 per cent drop was the number of those staying in provincially funded Shelter Diversion Hotel Programs.

This, the report says, was due to provincial investments in longer term housing options.

The association says there are several points to add regarding the results including people who experiencing “hidden homelessness” are only part of the PiT count every three years.

In addition to that, transitional housing sites housed an additional 458 people the night the count was taken. Moving them to permanent housing has created a “bottleneck” in the system, according to the association.

You can read the full report here.