The population experiencing homelessness across Ontario has risen by 17.9 per cent from 2022-23 to 2024-25, but Toronto saw the largest decrease, according to a new report by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO).
As the province’s most populous city, it’s no surprise that Toronto recorded the largest number of people experiencing homelessness in 2024-25, at 19,462, but it also recorded the largest year-over-year decline, falling by 8.2 per cent.
Niagara Falls had the second-largest decline of 7.0 per cent.
On the other hand, Durham, Peel and York regions saw dramatic spikes of 130.0 per cent, 90.5 per cent and 76.6 per cent respectively.
The report notes that the province announced a deal with Toronto in 2023-24 which included additional support for a range of services, including homeless shelters. That’s on top of base homelessness program spending of $701 million in 2025-26.
Ottawa, which had the second-highest homeless population after Toronto at 9,431, also struck an additional funding deal with the province.
“Together, these agreements provided $240 million per year in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and up to $240 million in 2026-27,” the report states.
According to a 2023 report by Statistics Canada, the most common causes leading to homelessness in Canada included financial issues (41.8 per cent), relationship issues (36.9 per cent) and fleeing abuse (13.3 per cent).
A 2024 Street Needs Assessment by the City of Toronto also found that 22 per cent of respondents said they ended up on the streets after being evicted.
Refugee/asylum claimants put ‘significant pressure’ on shelter systems: FAO
Several large Ontario municipalities, including Toronto, felt the strain from a surge of refugee and asylum claimants in 2023 and 2024, the report notes.
“At the peak in August 2024, Toronto accommodated 6,490 refugee claimants nightly, representing approximately 60 per cent of its total shelter population,” the FAO states.
Those numbers have fallen significantly in 2025 as individuals were transferred to federally funded hotels, or asylum claimant reception centres like the one in Peel Region.
Toronto’s Street Needs Assessment study also found that the influx of asylum seekers prompted many people experiencing homelessness in the city to relocate.
“The share of respondents reporting that they left their community or relocated also increased significantly, from 5 per cent in 2021 to 31 per cent in 2024, reflecting in part the large number of recently arrived refugee claimants in Toronto’s shelter system,” the report notes.