Housing and homelessness are the most pressing issues for Victorians, according to the latest Vital Signs report card by the Victoria Foundation.
The annual Vital Signs is a survey to provide, what they call, a snapshot of the Capital Region's wellbeing.
The Victoria Foundation CEO Sandra Richardson told C-FAX 1070 that Housing and Homeless have once against taken the top spot as the greatest concern for people living in Greater Victoria, "for the first time since 2010, housing and homelessness has taken the top spot away from cost of living. Cost of living has been very prominent for the last 5-years."
Cost of living was followed by mental illness, transportation and sewage treatment.
The Foundation's Communications Director, Robert Janus, says it's normal to see the issues most covered in the news become the problems most reflected in Vital Signs, "what's happening in the media is often mirrored in the survey results when it comes to priority results for the citizens of the region. We didn't find it a big surprise to see the shift to housing and homelessness."
The Vital Signs report assigns letter grades to different areas. The lowest letter grade is the C- minus give to Housing. Our highest grade was a B+ plus in both Arts and Culture and Sports and Recreation.
When asked what people liked best about Victoria, natural environment and climate scored the highest.
The Victoria Foundation uses the results to help direct that grants it gives in the community.