'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.
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.).
