More than 770,000 people were living in shelters or outside in January, according to an annual federal report on homelessness by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The number is up 18% from last year's count — which had also jumped from the year before — and is the largest number since HUD started doing this report in 2007.
HUD released its report Friday, based on the January "point-in-time" survey in cities around the country. The results punctuated a trend advocates for homeless people and affordable housing have been highlighting.
"A lot of families, a lot of households, a lot of individuals are still struggling. I think we're still in — for deeply poor people — a real recovery from the pandemic," says Jeff Olivet, who until recently was executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
He says homelessness has been rising since 2017, driven by a massive shortage of affordable housing that's pushed prices up. Research finds that where rents go up, so does homelessness. That rise stalled during the pandemic, Olivet notes, when sweeping federal aid helped keep people housed. But since that help ended, people still face higher prices for housing, food, and other everyday goods.
HUD officials say another key factor was the recent increase in asylum seekers coming to the U.S., often fleeing dangerous conditions in their home countries. In 13 communities that reported being affected by migration, family homelessness more than doubled. Overall, it was up 39%.
There was also an increase in the number of people overall living outside - that is, not in shelters; those considered chronically homeless; and unaccompanied youth. One bright spot was a decline in the number of unhoused veterans. This year that actually fell to a record low, after years of intense investment in subsidized housing and support services.
The report also says extreme weather disasters contributed to the rise, and specifically cites last year's fire in Maui that had left 5,200 people still in shelters during the January count.
The annual report is widely considered an undercount, and does not include people crowding in with family or friends because they can no longer pay rent.
HUD says the numbers in some places are likely down since this count was made
Despite the nearly across-the-board surge in homelessness, HUD and others say there's reason to believe the numbers in some places have come down since the count in January.
For one thing, President Biden took action in June to limit asylum claims and cap illegal border crossings. Since then, Denver, Chicago and New York — who'd been overwhelmed with asylum seekers — reported a sharp drop in migrants in shelters.
The rent spikes of recent years have also slowed, with rents nearly flat or even down in some cities. And some places that had years of rising homelessness numbers saw a turnaround this year, including Phoenix, Los Angeles and Dallas.
"What that says is that, if we keep investing the right way in getting people off the streets and into housing as quickly as possible, we really can see those numbers go down," Olivet says.
Housing costs have risen with inflation, interest rates and a tight construction labor pool. The Biden administration has nudged cities to loosen zoning rules that restrict apartments and other more affordable housing. It also boosted spending on housing vouchers and other subsidies specifically for homeless people. But there's also been growing opposition to that kind of spending, including among allies of President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump has called for a different approach to homelessness
The report comes amid growing public frustration with homelessness, and a wave of states and cities making it a crime to sleep outside in public spaces. President-elect Trump supports these bans on so-called street camping and a landmark Supreme Court decision this year allowed cities to enforce them even if people have nowhere else to go. Since then, more people are getting citations or even facing arrest.
Trump allies also want to shift billions in federal homelessness funding away from housing and toward requiring treatment for drug addiction or mental illness. He's also talked of putting people into "mental institutions."
Housing advocates including Olivet, worry camping bans and funding changes will only make the problem worse. But "what we need is investment in a range of solutions for people," he says. "We need all of the above. It's not an either or way of thinking that's going to solve this."
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