Homelessness Prevention & Response Plan
Explore our plan to achieve a functional end to homelessness in Surrey.
A Pathway to Home: City of Surrey Homelessness Prevention & Response Plan provides a framework for achieving the City’s vision for a functional end to homelessness in Surrey.
The plan steers the City’s actions and decisions over the next five years, aiming to create clear pathways out of homelessness towards stable, permanent housing options. Within the housing network, the plan concentrates on non-market housing solutions – emergency shelters, supportive housing, transitional housing, and independent living – to ensure diverse housing options are available for people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.
Goals & objectives
There are seven goals and nineteen objectives that guide our Homelessness Prevention & Response Plan:
1. Increase supply of non-market housing in Surrey
Objectives
- Increase the number of non-market housing units built for a range of households including low-income families, seniors, and singles.
- Contribute to the creation of inclusive and diverse communities throughout Surrey by supporting the development of non-market housing in each of Surrey’s six communities.
2. Build culturally safe housing and support services for Indigenous peoples
Objectives
- Recognize and continue working to understand and address Indigenous homelessness and the unique housing needs of Indigenous people.
- Increase the number of Indigenous-led non-market housing units and projects.
- Improve access to culturally safe and appropriate supports, including the provision of dedicated support services for Indigenous people. Make efforts to remove barriers caused by anti-Indigenous racism.
- Prevent incidences of Indigenous homelessness in Surrey.
3. Diversify non-market supportive and independent affordable rental to meet the unique needs of priority populations
Objective
- Support the development of a greater range of non-market housing to better serve the needs of population groups experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, including people with complex health issues, low-income seniors and Elders, young adults, Indigenous people, women and children, people identifying as 2SLGBTQIA+, and low-income newcomers.
4. Ensure emergency solutions are effective, client-centred, and short-term
Objectives
- Ensure emergency solutions are responsive to the specific needs of different population groups.
- Provide appropriate services through client-centred case planning and support.
- Facilitate better access to stable, permanent housing with fewer instances of people living for long periods in shelters.
5. Encourage prevention-driven solutions, especially during transitions
Objectives
- Prevent incidences of people becoming homeless, specifically around points of transition in their life.
- Reduce the number of tenants being evicted, placing them at-risk of homelessness.
6. Improve access to health and other support services
Objectives
- Improve the integration of health and other services in shelters, transitional, and supportive housing in Surrey.
- Ensure there are adequate substance use services to support people requiring harm reduction and/or treatment and recovery services.
- Increase the availability and range of health services for homeless and at-risk residents across the city.
- Improve access to culturally safe and appropriate supports for diverse populations including Indigenous people, people identifying as 2SLGBTQIA+, women, youth, and low-income newcomers.
7. Understand the scale and complexity of community need
Objectives
- Facilitate improved coordination between housing and service providers.
- Improve access to data and data sharing to enhance understanding of the needs of people experiencing homelessness.
- Achieve greater community awareness and support for homelessness services and solutions.
Actions
The Homelessness Prevention & Response Plan includes 60 short-, medium-, long-term, and ongoing actions across four areas of implementation:
Policy
13 actions that establish or amend a policy or standard
Process
17 actions that amend or establish a system or practice to create a new outcome
Partnership
22 actions that involve City collaboration with external organizations, First Nations, or other levels of government
Support
20 actions where the City supports external efforts or encourages involvement by other organizations or governments
Homelessness in Surrey
What we heard
People with living and lived experience of homelessness, frontline and outreach workers, social service providers, government partners, immigrant serving agencies, and the business community provided feedback and identified four key areas related to homelessness in Surrey: housing, integrated health and housing, support services, and prevention.
Gaps & targets
In March 2023, the Homeless Count in Greater Vancouver identified 1,060 individuals who were homeless in Surrey. Of these, 759 were sheltered (including 109 sheltered in Extreme Weather Response shelters) and 301 were living on the streets. This reflects an increase in 65% since 2020 and due to the limitations of counting the Surrey homeless population, it is widely accepted as an undercount.
Surrey has the second highest prevalence of homelessness in the Metro Vancouver region, but is underserved with only 1 non-market housing unit per 134 residents, compared to 1 non-market housing unit per 59 residents in the region.
Targets were identified to address the current and projected need identified by the 2023 Homeless Count and anticipated loss of emergency spaces in facilities with expiring leases. An estimate of 2,326 new emergency spaces and/or non-market housing units are needed in Surrey by 2029.
The City of Surrey will continue to work collaboratively with BC Housing and Fraser Health, and the community agencies that serve people that are experiencing homelessness, in order to address homelessness and the related issues of mental health and addictions.
Surrey Homelessness & Housing Fund
In June 2007, Surrey City Council approved the creation of the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Fund; $9 million from the City’s Affordable Housing Reserves was used to establish the fund. The fund is used to support Surrey-made solutions to homelessness and affordable housing issues in Surrey.
Contact
Christa Brown
Non-Market Housing and Homelessness Services Manager
Email: socialplanning@surrey.ca
Key documents
- A Pathway to Home: Homelessness Prevention Response Plan
- Homelessness Prevention Response Plan: Plan At-A-Glance
- Homelessness Prevention Response Plan: Engagement Summary
- Homelessness Prevention Response Plan: Situation Report
- Finding Our Way Home: Indigenous experiences of homelessness in Surrey
- 2023 In Their Own Words Surrey Vulnerable Women and Girls Report
- 2023 Homeless Count in Greater Vancouver: Final Data Report
- North Surrey Homelessness Resources