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Homelessness in Regina is slightly down according to the Namerind Housing Corporation’s latest point in time (PiT) count.
On Tuesday, the Indigenous-led organization based on affordable housing revealed that there were 767 people in the city experiencing homelessness after on a count by 120 volunteers on Oct. 2 between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Namrerind counted 824 people in 2024.
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“Besides getting a real snapshot of who was homeless that night, it really provided us with an opportunity to connect with people who were homeless, and we’re big believers that it’s through this connection that we can change the direction of somebody’s life,” said Namerind CEO Robert Byers.
He said the decrease might have also been partially borne of the fact that this year Namerind didn’t submit numbers of “hidden homeless” — which includes people couch surfing, in hospitals, hotels and motels or in correctional facilities — to Housing Infrastructure Communities Canada.
Byers said Namerind helped more than 400 people find housing in 2025.
According to Namerind’s Coordinated Access Regina program, the breakdown of Regina’s homeless population was:
- 70 per cent of people counted were Indigenous
- 43 per cent were experiencing chronic homelessness
- 57 per cent were experiencing episodic homelessness
- 22 per cent were experiencing hidden homelessness
- 12 per cent were in transitional or emergency shelters
- 12 per cent said they experienced domestic violence
- 10 per cent were youth
- 12.5 per cent were elders
- 1 per cent were veterans
- 3 per cent were immigrants
Volunteers were sent out to pre-mapped zones throughout the city to gather the data for the survey.
Among them was Alysia Johnson, who is also a volunteer with Rally Around Homelessness.
Johnson said 2025 was a “quieter” year for her through her work as a volunteer, but said the numbers provided by the PiT count might not provide the full picture.
“We shouldn’t be patting ourselves on the back collectively, because homelessness is very deadly,” she told 980 CJME on Tuesday.
“There are a lot of people who are straight up no longer with us – they’ve died. There are different circumstances night-to-night, couch surfing and very temporary and fleeting circumstances that can kind of skew the numbers…
“… we just don’t see any evidence that homelessness is really going down. We really are still 300 per cent higher than the rates we saw a decade ago.”
Johnson noted that although homelessness is an issue observed across Canada, Regina’s per capita numbers make it stand out compared to cities like Winnipeg or Calgary.
Johnson said the provincial government’s introduction of the Saskatchewan Income Support Program (SIS) was the turning point, which intensified homelessness across the province.
She said affordable housing and wrap-around supports get to the heart of the issue.
“A lot of the so-called affordable rental units out there are $1,000 a month. Meanwhile, people in the SIS program are receiving less than $700 for rent. It means that the utilities are covered in full rather than partial payments, which opens people up to breaching their lease when they can’t afford their power or their energy and those utilities get cut or their water gets cut off, and they get kicked out by the landlord as a result of not maintaining their utility payments,” Johnson said.
In March 2025, Regina city council voted to formally recognize a “houselessness crisis”, seeking to gain further support from the federal and provincial governments.
In April 2025, Namerind unveiled its projected $111 million five-year plan to end homelessness based on coordinated access, housing and supports, prevention and diversion, as well as leadership and implementation.
“We have to really put some focus on prevention. How do we get to the folks before they become homeless? Because if we don’t stop the inflow, then I think we’re always fighting the number,” Byers said.
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