A recent Nanos Research poll indicates that 57% of Ottawa residents know someone facing a risk of homelessness. The survey,conducted for the Ottawa Mission, highlights a growing perception that affordable housing is a primary driver of housing instability in the city.
The jump to 57 percent: A growing fear of housing instability
The perception of housing insecurity in Canada's capital has intensified significantly over the last several years. according to the Nanos Research poll, which surveyed 815 randomly selected Ottawa residents between September 25 and October 6, more than half of respondents now believe someone in their circle is at risk of losing their home. This represents a notable increase from 2019, when 53% of respondents felt there was no risk to their loved ones; now, that figure has dropped to 43%.
This anxiety is not limited to others. The data shows that the perceived risk of personally becoming homeless has also climbed. In the 2026 poll, 24% of respondents identified a small risk of personal homelessness, compared to 20% in 2019, while those reporting a high personal risk rose from 2% to 3%.
From addiction to affordable housing: The 23 percent shift
There is a fundamental shift in how the public understands the root causes of homelessness. While physical and mental health issues and addictions remain the most cited contributors, their perceived dominance is waning. As the report says, the percentage of residents who viewed health and addiction as the primary cause dropped from 62% in 2019 to 54% in 2026.
Conversely, the lack of affordable housing is increasingly seen as the culprit. Twenty-three percent of respondents in the 2026 poll identified affordable housing as the main cause, a significant jump from the 17% who held that view in 2019. This suggests a public realization that homelessness is increasingly driven by economic systemic failures rather than individual crises.
Bank Street and Overbrook: The geographic spread of the crisis
The crisis is no longer confined to a few specific shelters or downtown cores. Peter Tilley, CEO of the Ottawa Mission, told CTV Your Morning Ottawa that homelessness has stretched across the city, specifically mentioning the spread down Bank Street into Somerset Ward and east into Overbrook. Tilley noted that this geographic expansion mirrors the shift in public perception, as residents now see the risk as something that affects a broader cross-section of the population.
The scale of the need is further evidenced by the Ottawa Mission's operational data. The organization served a record 19,000 meals on Thanksgiving this year and provided a total of 1.2 million meals over the last year. Despite this, the poll found that only about 15% of respondents correctly estimated that the Ottawa Mission serves one million or more meals annually.
The 42 percent who see homelessness as a collective burden
Public opinion on who should solve this crisis is moving away from private or familial support and toward systemic intervention. In 2019, 14% of respondents believed family and friends bore the most responsibility for addressing homelessness; by 2026, that figure plummeted to 5%. Instead, 42% of those polled now believe that everyone—including all levels of government, charities, and religious institutions—shares the responsibility.
This shift toward collective responsibility is accompanied by a change in how residents provide aid. While donations to organizations dropped slightly from 77% in 2019 to 73% in 2026, more people are engaging in direct support. Sixty-five percent of residents now say they provide support to homeless people direclty, up from 57% in 2019, with 53% providing food, money, or verbal support.
The one-in-four households facing food insecurity in Ottawa
The housing crisis is inextricably linked to food instability. Ottawa Public Health reports that more than one in four households in Ottawa struggle with food insecurity. This is reflected in the poll's findings, where a significant portion of residents believe a large percentage of the city cannot afford healthy food; 23% of respondents estimated that between 50% and 70% of households struggle with food costs.
While the poll provides a comprehensive look at public sentiment,some data remains opaque. the report does not specify the demographic breakdown of the 815 residents polled, leaving it unclear if the increased fear of homelessness is concentrated in specific age groups or income brackets. Additionally, while the poll notes a drop in organizational donations, it does not explore whether this is due to a decrease in disposable income among the donors themselves.
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