Jessica Corbett
The
controversial federal system for tracking homelessness in the United States
recorded an 18% increase from 2023, breaking the record previously set last
year, according to a report released Friday.
Unhoused people are seen near the City Hall during heavy rain in San Francisco, California, on December 26, 2024. (Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) process—which advocates and
experts have long argued is flawed and results in inaccurate data that
understates the homelessness crisis—provides a snapshot of how many people are
unhoused for a single night each January.
This year, the
HUD report states, "a total of 771,480 people—or about 23 of every 10,000
people in the United States—experienced homelessness in an emergency shelter,
safe haven, transitional housing program, or in unsheltered locations across
the country."
"Homelessness
among people in families with children, individuals, individuals with chronic
patterns of homelessness, people staying in unsheltered locations, people
staying in sheltered locations, and unaccompanied youth all reached the highest
recorded numbers in 2024," the report notes. "Veterans were the only
population to report continued declines in homelessness."
The publication
for the agency's 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count adds that "people who
identify as Black, African American, or African continue to be overrepresented
among the population experiencing homelessness."
In a HUD
statement about the document, the outgoing Biden administration highlighted
that "this report reflects data collected a year ago and likely does not
represent current circumstances, given changed policies and conditions."
Alongside the
report, the Biden administration on Friday announced measures to address the
crisis, which include "updating regulations that streamline the
repurposing of surplus federal properties for affordable housing and
homelessness services, making resources available to a select number of states
under the second cohort of the Housing and Services Partnership Accelerator
with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and awarding
approximately $39.8 million to support veterans through the HUD-Veterans
Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program."
The data came
just weeks away from President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White
House—and, as Peggy Bailey, an executive vice president at the progressive
think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, warned on social media
Friday, the incoming Republican administration "is poised to make matters
worse."
"Trump's
record and Republican proposals raise SERIOUS concerns that the incoming
[administration] and Congress will abandon evidence-based approaches and pursue
funding cuts and policies that further increase homelessness and deepen
inequities," she said, pointing to the president-elect picking former
Texas state Rep. Scott Turner (R-33)—who has a history of opposing efforts to
help the poor—to run HUD.
While sounding
the alarm about the potential impact of Republicans controlling the White House
and both chambers of Congress next year, Bailey also called out current
policymakers for not doing enough to reduce homelessness, saying: "This is
a policy choice. Housing is a basic human need. In the wealthiest nation in the
world, solutions are in reach."
"The
research is clear: Rental assistance promotes housing stability and is key to
solving homelessness. Reducing homelessness will require *expanding* rental
assistance, not cutting it or taking it away from people who need it to make
ends meet," she explained. "Under the status quo, deep racial and
other inequities in homelessness and housing insecurity persist, due to income
and wealth inequities stemming from generations of discrimination in housing,
education, and employment."
"Policymakers'
choices left many communities [without] the resources to respond as need
increased, like after natural disasters, surges in market rents, or when some
people who recently came to the U.S. seeking asylum or work opportunities had
nowhere to live," Bailey added. "Homelessness is unacceptable—and
solvable—regardless of who experiences it."
According to
HUD's statement:
Migration had a particularly notable impact on family homelessness, which rose 39% from 2023-24. In the 13 communities that reported being affected by migration, family homelessness more than doubled. Whereas in the remaining 373 communities, the rise in families experiencing homelessness was less than 8%. Rents have also stabilized significantly since January 2024. Since then, HUD has added 435,000 new rental units in the first three quarters of 2024; that's more than 120,000 new units each quarter. The PIT Count was conducted at the tail of significant increases in rental costs, as a result of the pandemic and nearly decades of under-building of housing. Rents are flat or even down in many cities since January.
The Maui fire, in addition to other natural disasters, had an impact on the increase in homelessness. In Hawaii, more than 5,200 people were sleeping in disaster emergency shelters on the night of the PIT count due to the Maui fire. HUD continues to work diligently with the state of Hawaii and Maui County through funding and technical assistance to support long-term recovery from the fire. Over the last year, since the PIT Count was conducted, rental costs have stabilized, with rents down in some cities.
Like Bailey,
leaders at advocacy groups called on policymakers—at all levels—to do far more
to help unhoused people.
"The answer
to ending homelessness is ensuring everyone has access to safe, stable, and
affordable housing," Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End
Homelessness, said in a Friday statement responding to the new data.
"Our
leaders must immediately expand the resources to rehouse people without homes
and assist the rapidly growing number of people who cannot afford skyrocketing
rents," Oliva continued. "This record-setting increase in
homelessness should sound the alarm for federal, state, and local lawmakers to
advance evidence-based solutions to this crisis."
Renee Willis,
incoming interim CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, similarly
stressed that "increased homelessness is the tragic, yet predictable,
consequence of underinvesting in the resources and protections that help people
find and maintain safe, affordable housing."
"As
advocates, researchers, and people with lived experience have warned, the
number of people experiencing homelessness continues to increase as more people
struggle to afford sky-high housing costs," she said.
"These data
confirm what we already know: that too many of our friends, neighbors, and
family members are experiencing the crisis of not having a place to call
home," Willis added. "Without significant and sustained federal
investments to make housing affordable for people with the lowest incomes, the
affordable housing and homelessness crisis in this country will only continue
to worsen."
Some progressive
U.S. lawmakers weighed in on social media Friday. Congressman Maxwell Alejandro
Frost (D-Fla.) emphasized that "as housing prices increase, homelessness
increases. Homelessness is a housing problem."
Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) said that "this is the richest country on Earth. 770,000
Americans should not be homeless, and 20 million more should not be spending
over half their incomes on rent or a mortgage."
"We need to
invest in affordable housing," Sanders added, "not Trump's massive
tax breaks for billionaires."
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