The continuing rise in homelessness in the United States is largely due to a lack of affordable housing options, experts say.
The number of people living in homelessness in the United States rose 18 percent over the past year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in a new report.
Data released Friday showed that more than 771,000 people are experiencing homelessness across the country, according to an annual count conducted on one night in January 2024.
The number — which HUD said is the highest ever recorded — includes people staying in emergency shelters, safe havens, temporary housing or in unsheltered locations in the United States.
It does not include those living in certain other forms of housing instability, such as people staying with a friend or family member because they lack shelter of their own.
“Our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnant wages among middle- and low-income families, and the continuing effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits,” the department’s report said (PDF).
Homelessness in the United States has been increasing for years, largely due to a lack of affordable housing options in cities across the country. In numbers released last year, HUD found that homelessness increased by 12 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Tent cities and sprawling encampments have also appeared in many American cities amid rising rates of homelessness.
While some cities have strengthened programs aimed at keeping people off the streets and into shelters or temporary housing, others have imposed harsh measures that critics say punish or even criminalize homelessness.
One of the most troubling findings of Friday’s HUD report was the significant increase in the number of children experiencing homelessness.
Nearly 150,000 children were living in homelessness in the United States this year — a 33 percent increase compared to 2023, the department said.
“Between 2023 and 2024, children (under 18) were the age group that saw the largest increase in homelessness,” the report found.
While the report primarily attributed the overall rise in homelessness to a lack of affordable housing, HUD said other factors also played a role, including natural disasters like the Maui wildfires that displaced people from their homes.
An increase in the number of migrants staying in shelters in major US cities, including New York, Denver and Chicago, has also contributed to the increase, as has the expiration of benefits and protection rules intended to help people retain their housing during the Covid-19 pandemic. .
The National Low Income Housing Coalition said Friday’s report underscored “the urgent need for policymakers to invest in proven solutions to the affordable housing and homelessness crisis.”
“Increasing homelessness is the tragic, but predictable, result of a lack of investment in the resources and protections that help people find and maintain safe, affordable housing,” Renee Willis, the group’s incoming interim CEO, said in a statement.
“As advocates, researchers, and people with life experience have warned, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow as more people struggle to afford high housing costs.”
