Homeless count set for this morning

One simple question — where did you sleep last night? — will help the city determine what it needs to support its most vulnerable residents.

Today from 6 to 8 a.m., roughly 30 volunteers will canvass the downtown area and ask every person they see where they had slept the previous night for the annual Point in Time (PiT) count.

The count provides a “snapshot of homelessness in the community,” said Annelise Wilchowy-Hagman, PiT count co-ordinator for the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation.

Wilchowy-Hagman — who started the role in June — said while the PiT count isn’t perfect, it helps the city advocate for provincial and federal funding to support unhoused people.

“It can go towards more funding for larger shelters or larger drop-in centres … We can advocate for more funding for stuff like that,” Wilchowy-Hagman said in an interview on Thursday.

Every year, cities and urban centres across Canada partake in the count to identify the number of people experiencing homelessness or accessing an emergency or overnight shelter in a sample area during a predetermined time frame.

This year, downtown canvassers will target the city blocks between Pacific Avenue and Victoria Avenue, from First Street to 15th Street.

The sample area provides a glimpse of what homelessness looks like in Brandon and is meant to be interpreted as a minimum number, not a complete total.

“Because we’re only canvassing a certain area, we are unfortunately still missing a lot of people because not everyone is going to be in the downtown area when we do it,” Wilchowy-Hagman said.

“As much as I would like to get every single person that is homeless in Brandon, it’s unfortunately not going to happen,” she said. “We don’t have the time or the volunteers for it.”

This year is also an enumeration year, meaning participants are only asked about the night before.

Every three years, a full count is taken with more statistical information such as background, gender identity and other demographic data.

“It may not look perfect on paper, but it’s the best we can do,” Wilchowy-Hagman said.

Last year’s PiT count identified a total of 205 people who were experiencing homelessness. The 2025 count also saw a 75.6 per cent increase in individuals accessing shelters, transitional housing or homeless services — from 90 people in 2024 to 158 in 2025.

In the 2025 report, a limitation was identified that “negatively impacted” the accuracy of the data.

“Several encampment sites were decommissioned by the City of Brandon immediately prior to the scheduled PiT count enumeration, despite being aware of the planned count,” which displaced people from the canvassed area, the report said.

Wilchowy-Hagman said the BNRC has an encampment co-ordinator this year who will be visiting and surveying known homeless encampments during the count.

Mayor Jeff Fawcett said people have been out in some of the encampment areas over the past few days “to make sure that people get the head count numbers and then they’ll try to safely remove people to safe spaces” afterward.

“The numbers matter for funding, and so you know to move people (away from) where we know they are right now, it kind of works against us,” Fawcett said Thursday afternoon.

The BNRC will hand out a winter outreach kit to identified unsheltered individuals, which will contain gloves, socks, hand warmers, emergency blankets, as well as a toque, applesauce, granola bar and hygiene kit.

Wilchowy-Hagman added a lot of the items in the kits were collected from schools in the Brandon School Division.

“Back in July … we got donations from them for hats and scarves and mitts and water bottles,” she said.

The BNRC will also be hosting a hot breakfast with pancakes, eggs and ham from 7 to 11 a.m.

Fawcett said he’ll be participating “to help out anywhere I can.”

“Really, it’s not about me. I’m just there to support the BNRC, support the people that they’re working with,” Fawcett said.

After the count is completed, the data collected will be made into a report that will be published next year.

» rgerrard@brandonsun.com