A new report is providing a closer look at the homeless population across Metro Vancouver.

One growing and concerning demographic: seniors.

According to the report, seniors make up 18 per cent of the current homeless population in Vancouver.

“We routinely have people in their mid to late 70s, sometimes early 80s, and it requires a lot of adjustments from our staff, but we are working to provide the care they need,” said Nick Wells with the Union Gospel Mission.

He adds that the rise in seniors experiencing homelessness noted in the report is definitely reflected in their shelters.

“Since the pandemic, we have really seen a spike in the number of seniors turning to our shelter services, and right now it’s about 30 to 33 per cent,” he explained.

“Right now, a third of our shelter population is people over the age of 55. Those numbers are growing at about 2 per cent every year. It’s a real serious ongoing issue that I think can get lost in the shuffle sometimes.”

Wells says that 10 years ago, if one was over 40, outreach workers would consider that an “older age,” but that has since changed.

“Our current oldest shelter resident is 78 years old; we have people in their 80s, in one case, we had a dementia diagnosis.”

Forty per cent of unhoused seniors say that they first experienced homelessness after the age of 55.

“We know that seniors are a growing cohort of unhoused folk and are struggling under the severe affordability issues in the City of Vancouver, not just rent but inflationary pressures, which is creating a whole new wave of unhoused folks being left behind in our city,” said Coun. Pete Fry.

“It does speak to the need for more appropriate inventions, and we need to get ahead of it.”

The city is calling on the provincial and federal governments to increase investments in income assistance and recommit to establishing a homeless navigation centre, which was promised by the province in 2020, but has yet to be built.

CityNews reached out to the province for an update on the centre, but did not hear back in time for the broadcast deadline.

More seniors experiencing homelessness across Metro Vancouver. (CityNews)