Homelessness is an increasingly visible reality in many B.C. communities.
The latest snapshot reveals that the unhoused population continues to rise in more than half of the communities surveyed.
According to B.C. Housing’s 2025 homeless count, homelessness is up in 12 of 20 municipalities where the numbers were tallied on a single day in April.
Penticton was among the cities that saw an increase.
“We have an issue in Penticton, but it’s the same issue that we’re seeing across B.C.,” Penticton coun. Julius Bloomfield told Global News.
Between 2023 and 2025, Penticton saw a 17 per cent rise in its homelessness numbers.
That number jumps to 80 per cent between 2018 and 2025.
The two other communities surveyed in the region included Vernon, where the city saw a decrease of 30 per cent in its unhoused population since 2023.
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Salmon Arm saw an increase of 22 per cent in the same time period.
”We have approved the development of two sites, city-owned sites for affordable housing and supportive housing, Bloomfield said. “That will obviously help with the mix, but we continue to advocate to the province and work with the province with the minister of housing and B.C. Housing for providing some more options.”
While Kelowna wasn’t included in this year’s count, homelessness has long been and continues to be a crisis.
”In many communities it’s compounded by the toxic drug crisis, by residual impact of the pandemic,” said Housing Minister Christine Boyle.
Boyle added the province is actively working on reducing homelessness numbers in the Okanagan and across B.C.
“The ‘Belonging in B.C.’ plan will add 3,900 new supportive housing units, 240 complex care spaces province-wide, building on the more than 9,000 supportive homes that are already open or underway since 2017,” Boyle said.
It’s an action plan that Boyle said aims to support communities such as Penticton, where, according to the mayor, homelessness is the most pressing matter.
”It’s top priority,” Bloomfield said. “Top priority because it affects everything.”
Read the full report here.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
