Hidden homelessness: An indicator-based approach for examining the geographies of recent immigrants at-risk of homelessness in Greater Vancouver

While homelessness is a growing problem in Greater Vancouver, immigrants are not yet a visible part of the region’s homeless. The over-representation of immigrants among the population considered at-risk suggests that immigrant homelessness remains hidden. Using census-based housing indicators, we examine the geographies of immigrants at-risk of homelessness to discern where ‘hidden’ homelessness might be occurring. Findings indicate that: spatial concentrations of recent immigrants at-risk of homelessness are found in inner suburban locations; in these at-risk areas the vast majority of immigrants are recent arrivals; and recent immigrants are disproportionately excluded from at-risk estimates because they are significantly over-represented among households that have shelter costs that exceed their incomes (which are excluded by the indicator). These conclusions are reached through analysis at the regional and sub-regional scale, which revealed broad trends and patterns, and a second small-area (neighbourhood) scale analysis, a means of better documenting the highly-localized geography of low-cost rental housing, revealing fine-grained patterns of social difference, that in Greater Vancouver identify areas where ‘hidden’ homelessness may be present.