A Brief Check-In on the North Okanagan: What our Vital Signs are telling us right now

An 8-page snapshot of current trends in the North Okanagan

If you live in the North Okanagan, you don’t need a report to tell you that our community is changing. You feel it in the pace of life, the pressure on housing, the strain on health care, and the way neighbours continue to show up for one another.

But what a report can do is help us pause and ask: What’s shifting and where are we seeing resilience, progress, or warning signs?

That’s why we created the 2025 Vital Signs Update: A Brief Check-In on Our Community, a short companion to our larger Vital Signs work. We’re currently in a gap between Census cycles, and the next wave of detailed Census data will trickle out in 2026. In the meantime, we can still learn a great deal from community-generated and regional data, and from the real stories behind those numbers.

Between 2021 and 2025, the North Okanagan grew by 7.5%. Growth can be a good thing. It can bring energy, new businesses, and new ideas. But growth also puts pressure on systems we all rely on, especially when capacity doesn’t keep up.

Housing is still an issue we can’t ignore. Housing continues to shape almost every other challenge we’re trying to address.

In Vernon, the 2025 Point-in-Time Count identified 199 people experiencing homelessness, down from 279 in 2023. That decline matters, and it reflects real effort by organizations and partners who are increasing supports and working across systems.

At the same time, the rental market remains extremely tight. Median monthly shelter costs for renters rose to $1,550, and the vacancy rate is around 1%. Those numbers aren’t abstract: they show up in employers struggling to recruit, families living with uncertainty, and young people wondering if they’ll ever be able to stay in the community they grew up in.

Health care access is affecting day-to-day life. The Vital Signs Update also reflects the reality many residents talk about: it’s hard to find consistent, accessible care.

In our update, community estimates suggest 19,000–20,000 residents are currently unattached to a family doctor. When primary care is difficult to access, people turn to emergency departments for issues that should be handled earlier and closer to home, and that’s tough on everyone, including the staff working under enormous pressure.

The toxic drug crisis remains with us. In 2024, toxic drug poisoning deaths declined compared to 2023, but Vernon’s rate remains higher than regional and provincial averages. These are not just numbers. These are parents, children, friends, coworkers, and neighbours.

Still, there are signs of progress and belonging. Vital Signs is never only about what’s going wrong. It’s also about what’s working and where we see momentum.

In quality-of-life indicators, the North Okanagan reports higher levels of life satisfaction and meaning & purpose than the provincial benchmark. Our community continues to organize, volunteer, donate, and build even in a time when many people are stretched.

We’re sharing this Vital Signs Update now because we believe good community decisions start with shared understanding.

If you care about the North Okanagan, this report is for you. It’s a way to get on the same page about what the data says and then ask questions together.

I hope you’ll read the update, share it, and talk about it. And if you’re working on solutions, I hope you’ll reach out. Community change is a team effort.