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national low income housing coalition
'A Policy Choice': US Report Finds Homelessness Soared 18% This Year
"Increased homelessness is the tragic, yet predictable, consequence of underinvesting in the resources and protections that help people find and maintain safe, affordable housing," said one advocate.
Dec 27, 2024
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.
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."
This post has been updated with comment from U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
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'Unacceptable': US Homelessness Hits Record High
"Without significant and sustained federal investments to make housing affordable for people with the lowest incomes, the affordable housing and homelessness crises in this country will only continue to worsen," warned one campaigner.
Dec 15, 2023
The number of people in shelters, temporary housing, and unsheltered settings across the United States set a new record this year, "largely due to a sharp rise in the number of people who became homeless for the first time."
That's a key takeaway from an annual report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
On a single night in January 2023, "roughly 653,100 people—or about 20 of every 10,000 people in the United States—were experiencing homelessness," with about 60% in shelters and the remaining 40% unsheltered, according to HUD. That's a 12% increase from 2022 and the highest number of unhoused people since reporting began in 2007.
"We must address the main driver of homelessness and housing instability—the gap between low incomes and rent costs."
Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness—the federal agency behind President Joe Biden's plan from last year to reduce homelessness 25% by 2025—told The Associated Press that extra assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic "held off the rise in homelessness that we are now seeing."
Research and advocacy groups responded to the HUD report by also highlighting the positive impacts of federal pandemic-era relief including emergency rental aid, a national moratorium on evictions for nonpayment, and the expanded child tax credit.
"The historic resources and protections provided during the pandemic kept millions of renters stably housed, and the success of these resources is shown by the decrease in homelessness over that same period," said National Low-Income Housing Coalition president and CEO Diane Yentel. "Just as these emergency resources were depleted and pandemic-era renter protections expired, however, renters reentered a brutal housing market, with skyrocketing rents and high inflation."
"Eviction filing rates have now reached or surpassed pre-pandemic averages in many communities, resulting in increased homelessness," she noted. "Without significant and sustained federal investments to make housing affordable for people with the lowest incomes, the affordable housing and homelessness crises in this country will only continue to worsen."
Olivet said that "while numerous factors drive homelessness, the most significant causes are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing that have left many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and one crisis away from homelessness."
National Alliance to End Homelessness CEO Ann Oliva called for funding "urgent and overdue investments in affordable housing and rental assistance to keep people housed, as well as in proven housing and supportive service models that rapidly reconnect people experiencing homelessness with permanent housing."
Peggy Bailey, vice president for housing and income security at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, also stressed the need for a funding boost, saying that "we have the tools to ensure everyone has a safe, stable place to live, but we've failed to invest in them."
"Homelessness is unacceptable," Bailey declared. "We must address the main driver of homelessness and housing instability—the gap between low incomes and rent costs. That means expanding rental assistance for all people with the lowest incomes."
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge similarly said Friday that "homelessness is solvable and should not exist in the United States."
"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," she continued. "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."
Academics and advocates have long criticized the department's approach, which relies on reporting from a single night each January. Samuel Carlson, manager of research and outreach at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, told The Washington Post last year that "the HUD data is just catching a fraction of the people."
For that night in January, HUD found that roughly 186,100 people who reported experiencing homelessness, or over a quarter, were part of a family with children, a 16% increase from last year. Additionally, more than 1 in 5 people were age 55 or older, 35,574 were veterans, and 31% "reported having experienced chronic patterns of homelessness."
"People who identify as Black, African American, or African, as well as Indigenous people (including Native Americans and Pacific Islanders), continue to be overrepresented among the population experiencing homelessness," the report notes. "People who identify as Asian or Asian American experienced the greatest percentage increase among all people experiencing homelessness," while the largest numerical increase "was among people who identify as Hispanic or Latin(a)(o)(x)."
The report adds that over half "were in four states: California (28% of all people experiencing homelessness in the U.S, or 181,399 people); New York (16% or 103,200 people); Florida (5% or 30,756 people); and Washington (4% or 28,036 people)."
While progressive lawmakers have introduced federal legislation to help tackle the issue—from Congresswoman Cori Bush's (D-Mo.) Unhoused Bill of Rights to the Housing is a Human Right Act led by Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Grace Meng (D-N.Y.)—such measures are unlikely to advance with a GOP-controlled House and divided Senate.
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Sky-High US Housing Costs Fuel Record Surge in Homelessness
"When rents skyrocket amidst a severe shortage of affordable housing and a shredded safety net, more people become homeless. It really is that simple—and preventable."
Aug 15, 2023
Persistently high housing costs and the end of pandemic-era relief programs have fueled a sharp increase in homelessness in the U.S. this year, according to an analysis published Monday by The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reported that homelessness nationwide—from Denver to New Orleans to New York City—is up 11% so far this year compared to 2022, when more than 582,000 people experienced homelessness.
If this year's increase holds, the Journal noted, it would mark the largest jump since 2007, the year the U.S. government began tracking comparable data.
"We and others have repeatedly predicted this increase in homelessness," Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), wrote in response to the new figures. "When rents skyrocket amidst a severe shortage of affordable housing and a shredded safety net, more people become homeless. It really is that simple—and preventable."
NLIHC observed in a June report that "during the pandemic, housing advocates and impacted people helped bring about the enactment of unprecedented policy measures, including $46 billion in emergency rental assistance (ERA) and a national eviction moratorium, that reduced suffering for millions of households."
"Additionally, economic impact payments, increases to unemployment insurance and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and childcare tax credits helped keep low- and middle-income renters afloat," the report added. "Yet now that emergency resources are being depleted and many of these measures phased out, low-income renters are once again facing high rents and increased housing instability, with eviction filing rates reaching or surpassing pre-pandemic levels... and homelessness increasing in many communities."
"The Covid relief funds provided a buffer. We're seeing what happens when those resources aren't available."
As pandemic relief measures and renter protections faded in 2021 and last year, evictions surged and housing costs continued to rise across the country, with the median national rent surpassing $2,000 a month for the first time.
The Government Accountability Office has estimated that a $100 increase in the median U.S. rent is associated with a 9% increase in homelessness.
"The Covid relief funds provided a buffer," Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director at the National Coalition for the Homeless, told the Journal on Monday. "We're seeing what happens when those resources aren't available."
Data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development indicates that, in 2022, more than 138,000 people in the U.S. were chronically unhoused, meaning they were unhoused for a year or more or periodically unhoused over three years.
In a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency late last month, a group of more than 30 U.S. economists argued that federal rent control and stronger tenant protections are necessary to "meaningfully change the trajectory of the housing crisis."
"High rents and a lack of tenant protections negatively impact tenants and their families, as well as the larger economy," the economists wrote. "At the household level, high rents lead to housing insecurity, homelessness, health challenges, and economic precarity for already-struggling renters."
"At the national level," they added, "rent makes up about one-third of the Consumer Price Index, and rent increases have played a major role in the recent uptick in inflation and run the risk of posing long-term threats to the nation’s economy."
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