Homelessness up 12% to record level

The number of homeless people in the U.S. rose to record levels this year, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as pandemic-era homelessness programs continue to lapse.

The department released part of its annual homeless assessment report on Friday, showing that there were 653,104 homeless people on a single night in January. The figure is the highest for a single night since reporting began in 2007.

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“Homelessness is solvable and should not exist in the United States,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement. “From day one, this Administration has put forth a comprehensive plan to tackle homelessness and we’ve acted aggressively and in conjunction with our federal, state, and local partners to address this challenge.”

“We’ve made positive strides, but there is still more work to be done. This data underscores the urgent need for support for proven solutions and strategies that help people quickly exit homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place,” Fudge continued.

The report found that overall, in 2023, homelessness rose by 12%, or roughly 70,650 people, over the previous year. The highest increases year-to-year for homelessness were for people in families with children, which went up 15.5%, homelessness for “unaccompanied youth,” which went up 15.3%, and sheltered homelessness, which went up 13.7%.

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HUD said its data indicate that the rise in homelessness can be attributed to the significant increase in people who are homeless for the first time.

The department also says the trend resumes a pre-pandemic trend of increased homelessness, saying that pandemic-era programs that slowed the increase have mostly expired or wound down. Soaring rents were also to blame for the trend.