The CTV News Ottawa mayoral debate is Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 10 a.m. Watch on CTVNewsOttawa.ca, listen on Newstalk 580 CFRA and watch on the Newstalk 580 CFRA YouTube Channel. Exclusive new polling for CTV News Ottawa shows that when it comes to improving the city’s downtown, nearly half of residents believe helping those experiencing homelessness should be the top priority. Nanos Research surveyed 762 randomly selected Ottawa residents between Oct. 4 and Oct. 8. Respondents were asked what the city’s top priority for improving downtown should be. “When asked how things can be improved downtown, the top response from residents is to help people experiencing homelessness at 48 per cent, followed by public safety at 30 per cent,” Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist with Nanos Research, said. Homelessness top issue The most common response to the prompt among those polled, regardless of location, gender or age, was supporting people experiencing homelessness. In both western and eastern Ottawa, 49 per cent of respondents answered in that way. In downtown Ottawa, 52 per cent of people gave the same answer, and 42 per cent of respondents in rural Ottawa did as well. When it came to age, 56 per cent of respondents between 18 and 34 years old said the city should prioritize supports for those experiencing homelessness. That was also the answer for 49 per cent of respondents between 35 and 54 years old. While supporting the unhoused was the most common answer among respondents aged 55 and older, it was selected by a smaller share of that group than of any other age group, at 42.4 per cent. Other priorities for downtown Thirty per cent of respondents said public safety should be the city’s priority for improving downtown Ottawa. Public safety was slightly less of a priority for downtown residents than those in other parts of the city. The Nanos Research survey found 27 per cent of downtown residents believed public safety should be the city’s priority. By contrast, 29 per cent of people in western Ottawa, 32 per cent in eastern Ottawa and 31 per cent in rural Ottawa said the same. Another 10 per cent of respondents said the city should prioritize bringing more people downtown, the third most common answer in the survey. This answer was selected most often by respondents aged 55 and older, at a rate of 12 per cent. In the survey, 9 per cent of respondents between 18 and 34 and 10 per cent between 35 and 54 said the same. An additional three per cent of respondents said the city should prioritize financial supports for local businesses, while one per cent said improved transit should be the priority and less than one per cent prioritized parking, infrastructure repair/renewal and easing traffic. Gender differences While assisting those experiencing homelessness was the top priority for both men and women, a greater proportion of women than men answered in that way. Supporting the unhoused was selected by 56 per cent of women. By contrast, the same answer was chosen by 41 per cent of men. Men more often prioritized bringing more people downtown or providing financial support for local businesses, at 15 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. By comparison, only six per cent of women said the city should focus on bringing people downtown and one per cent of women said the city should prioritize financial supports for local businesses. For women and men, public safety was the second most chosen response at 31 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. Methodology The Nanos Research survey was conducted exclusively for CTV News Ottawa between Oct. 4 and Oct. 8. The survey included 762 Ottawa randomly selected residents with interviews completed by telephone and online. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
