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Saskatoon’s annual snapshot of people experiencing homelessness has been partially cancelled.
The 2026 Point-in-Time (PiT) Count, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6, is the city’s annual effort to identify how many people are homeless at a given point in time.
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This year it will not include the unsheltered portion. Specifically, the city won’t do an in-person count of the individuals or families experiencing unsheltered homelessness, including people living in encampments.
Usually, the city collects information directly from those on the streets.
For instance, last year, volunteers came across multiple people staying outside who said they couldn’t find spots in any shelters, highlighting that places to stay remained in short supply.
In a news release, the city wrote it made the change because of “safety concerns related to potential protest activity which may affect the safety of volunteers, staff and community partners participating in the count.”
The decision comes less than two weeks after police and firefighters left the encampment on Avenue K and 20th Street thanks to the actions of protestors on the scene.
These protestors formed a human chain around a fencing truck, with some even climbing on top. The fencing would have been used to close off the field where the encampment is.
Instead of collecting the information directly, the city said this year it would work with the Saskatoon Fire Department “to estimate the number of people living in encampments.”
“The safety of volunteers, community partners, staff and people experiencing homelessness must come first,” Lesley Anderson, the city’s director of planning and development, said.
Roughly 250 volunteers were already trained to help with the count.
While those experiencing unsheltered homelessness won’t have their perspectives included in this year’s PiT Count, the city will still collect data from people in transitional housing and emergency shelters.
Last year’s data
The 2025 PiT Count identified 1,931 homeless people in Saskatoon. It was roughly 29 per cent higher than 2024.
Around 38 per cent of those counted were unsheltered, making up a significant share of homelessness in the city.
The numbers from the count help the city decide on resource allocation and are submitted to the federal government, which funds the count.
Earlier this year, Anderson said last year’s count drove discussion around how urgently the city needs to respond to the rising issue of homelessness.
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