YTD Comparison

Toronto Shelter System — year-to-date cumulative trends

Year-to-date comparison of Toronto’s shelter system — see whether 2026 is tracking above or below prior years on key metrics like actively homeless and flow rates.

Author

Miriam Marling

data = FileAttachment("../data/shelter_flow.json").json()

MON = ["Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"]
fmtN = d => d.toLocaleString()

// Month dropdown: display "March 2026", return "2026-03-01", default = most recent.
reportingMonthOptions = data
  .filter(d => d.population_group === "All Population")
  .sort((a, b) => b.flow_date.localeCompare(a.flow_date))
  .map(d => {
    const [y, m] = d.flow_date.split("-").map(Number)
    return {
      label: new Date(y, m - 1, 15).toLocaleString("default", {month: "long", year: "numeric"}),
      value: d.flow_date
    }
  })

viewof reportingDate = Inputs.select(reportingMonthOptions, {
  label: "Reporting Month",
  format: d => d.label,
  value: reportingMonthOptions[0]
})

reportingYear  = +reportingDate.value.slice(0, 4)
reportingMonth = +reportingDate.value.slice(5, 7)

// YTD cumulative sums for current year and prior year through selected month.
ytdComputed = {
  const rows = data
    .filter(d => d.population_group === "All Population")
    .filter(d => {
      const y = +d.flow_date.slice(0, 4)
      const m = +d.flow_date.slice(5, 7)
      return (y === reportingYear || y === reportingYear - 1) && m <= reportingMonth
    })
    .sort((a, b) => a.flow_date.localeCompare(b.flow_date))

  const accNI = {}, accMH = {}
  return rows.map(d => {
    const y = +d.flow_date.slice(0, 4)
    const m = +d.flow_date.slice(5, 7)
    accNI[y] = (accNI[y] || 0) + d.newly_identified
    accMH[y] = (accMH[y] || 0) + d.moved_to_housing
    return {
      year: y, month: m,
      monthLabel: MON[m - 1],
      yearLabel: String(y),
      isCurrentYear: y === reportingYear,
      ytd_ni: accNI[y],
      ytd_mh: accMH[y]
    }
  })
}

// Sort: by month, prior year first within each month — creates visual bar grouping
ytdSorted = ytdComputed
  .sort((a, b) => a.month - b.month || a.year - b.year)
  .map(d => ({...d, barLabel: `${d.monthLabel} ${d.yearLabel}`}))

ytdDomain = ytdSorted.map(d => d.barLabel)

Cumulative YTD comparison: Newly Identified

Plot.plot({
  width,
  height: 60 + ytdSorted.length * 22,
  marginLeft: 100,
  marginRight: 80,
  x: {label: "Cumulative newly identified (YTD)", grid: true, tickFormat: fmtN},
  y: {label: null, domain: ytdDomain},
  color: {
    domain: [String(reportingYear - 1), String(reportingYear)],
    range: ["#FFB3C1", "#FF2D55"],
    legend: true
  },
  marks: [
    Plot.ruleX([0]),
    Plot.barX(ytdSorted, {x: "ytd_ni", y: "barLabel", fill: "yearLabel", tip: true,
                          insetTop: 1, insetBottom: 1}),
    Plot.text(ytdSorted, {
      x: "ytd_ni", y: "barLabel",
      text: d => d.ytd_ni.toLocaleString(),
      textAnchor: "start", dx: 5, fontSize: 11
    })
  ]
})

Cumulative YTD comparison: Moved to Permanent Housing

Plot.plot({
  width,
  height: 60 + ytdSorted.length * 22,
  marginLeft: 100,
  marginRight: 80,
  x: {label: "Cumulative moved to permanent housing (YTD)", grid: true, tickFormat: fmtN},
  y: {label: null, domain: ytdDomain},
  color: {
    domain: [String(reportingYear - 1), String(reportingYear)],
    range: ["#AED5AE", "#5BA75B"],
    legend: true
  },
  marks: [
    Plot.ruleX([0]),
    Plot.barX(ytdSorted, {x: "ytd_mh", y: "barLabel", fill: "yearLabel", tip: true,
                          insetTop: 1, insetBottom: 1}),
    Plot.text(ytdSorted, {
      x: "ytd_mh", y: "barLabel",
      text: d => d.ytd_mh.toLocaleString(),
      textAnchor: "start", dx: 5, fontSize: 11
    })
  ]
})

Explore other dashboards:

This dashboard is also available as an Oracle APEX dashboard built on the same database — useful if you want to see how the same data renders in Oracle’s native low-code platform, or if you’re curious about the SQL and APEX configuration behind it.