The United States saw an 18.1 per cent increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in some areas, officials say.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said the tallies taken in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless - a number that misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own.
That increase comes on top of a 12 per cent increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of COVID-19 assistance.
The 2023 increase also was driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the US, with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population.
"No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe, and quality housing they deserve," HUD agency head Adrianne Todman said in a statement.
Every January, communities nationwide conduct the Point-in-Time Count, a one-night count of the number of people experiencing homelessness in America.— Department of Housing and Urban Development (@HUDgov) HUD just released the January 2024 PIT Count Report: https://t.co/5sUc0IxdFA pic.twitter.com/4c18ErozFHDecember 27, 2024
Among the most concerning trends was a nearly 40 per cent rise in family homelessness - one of the areas that was most affected by the arrival of migrants in big US cities.
Family homelessness more than doubled in 13 communities impacted by migrants including Denver, Chicago and New York City, according to HUD, while it rose less than eight per cent in the remaining 373 communities.
Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024, reflecting a 33 per cent jump from last year.
Disasters also played a part in the rise in the count, especially last year's catastrophic Maui wildfire, the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century. More than 5,200 people were staying in emergency shelters in Hawaii on the night of the count.
"Increased homelessness is the tragic, yet predictable, consequence of underinvesting in the resources and protections that help people find and maintain safe, affordable housing," Renee Willis, incoming interim CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in a statement.
"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."
Robert Marbut Jr, the former executive director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness from 2019 to 2021, called the nearly 33 per cent increase in homelessness over the past four years "disgraceful" and said the government needs to abandon efforts to prioritise permanent housing.
"We need to focus on treatment of substance use and mental illness, and bring back program requirements, like job training," Marbut said in an email.
There was some positive news in the count, as homelessness among veterans continued to trend downwards. Homelessness among veterans dropped eight per cent to 32,882 in 2024. It was an even larger decrease for unsheltered veterans, declining 11 per cent to 13,851 in 2024.
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