A survey conducted for the Salvation Army has suggested that nearly one in nine Canadian adults has revealed to experience homelessness or come close to it at some point. However, in some provinces, the figure is as high as one in five, as the aftermaths of the recession goes on.

Respondents included in Saskatchewan and Manitoba posted the highest rate, with nearly 20% admitting that they had been homeless or near to it.

The Salvation Army revealed that it witnessed the demand for general social services climb by more than 25 per cent during the economic downturn in 2009, and it helped more than one million people with food, clothing and other necessities.

It uncovered that in shelter bed occupancy rates in the Ottawa marked a rise of more than nine per cent in 2009, and shelter-bed stays were 12 per cent longer than in 2008.

"Some non-governmental sources estimate Canada's true homeless population, not just those living in emergency shelters, to be between 200,000 and 300,000", posted the report for the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, which was published in 2007.

In addition, a report entitled Homelessness in a Growth Economy: Canada's 21st Century Paradox posted that the latest federal estimate rendered the figures for homeless in Canada to touch 150,000 in 2005.