New data shows homelessness increased over the last year and reached its highest level since federal housing authorities began keeping a point-in-time count of homelessness in 2007.
On Friday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its annual Homeless Assessment Report with point-in-time (PIT) estimates. PIT estimates track the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January.
The report found that over 653,100 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2023 – an increase of 12%, or 70,650 more people, compared to 2022. The 2023 homelessness figure is the largest number of people recorded as experiencing homelessness since the PIT reporting process began in 2007.
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Of the total number of people experiencing homelessness, the HUD report found that about six in 10 of the people were experiencing homelessness, "sheltered homelessness" and were either in an emergency shelter, transitional housing or participating in a safe haven program. The remaining four in 10 were experiencing unsheltered homelessness in places not meant for human habitation.
Within that figure, homelessness among families with children rose by 16% while the number of individuals experiencing homelessness was up by 11%. The report found that 72% of people experiencing homelessness did not have children present, although the number of homeless families with children rose by 25,000 people (or 16%) between 2022 and 2023, ending a downward trend that began in 2012.
One of the key findings in the report was that this uptick was due to a sharp rise in the number of people who became homeless for the first time. The report found that in the federal government’s fiscal years 2021 and 2022, the number of people who became newly homeless rose by 25%, even as the number of people exiting homelessness increased by 8%.
Among the factors the report listed as likely contributing to this phenomenon include "changes in the rental housing market and the winding down of pandemic protections and programs focused on preventing evictions and housing loss." It noted that rental housing conditions were challenging in 2022 due to supply constraints causing rent to rise, but added that the "rate of rent growth has now moderated thanks to housing under construction becoming available to rent in the coming year."
The cities and surrounding counties with the largest population of people experiencing homelessness were New York City (88,025) and Los Angeles (71,320), followed by Seattle (14,149), San Diego (10,264) and Denver (10,054).
New York City experienced the largest increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness, which rose by 26,185 people or 42% from 2022 to 2023 in the HUD count. Los Angeles had the largest number of veterans experiencing homelessness with 3,874, while the Oakland, California, area had the highest percentage of unsheltered veterans with 77.9% unsheltered.
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The state of California accounted for 49% of all unsheltered people in the country, with 123,323 people recorded. HUD found that’s nearly eight times the number of unsheltered people in the next highest state.
States experiencing very high rates of overall homelessness include New York, Vermont, Oregon and California with 52, 51, 48, and 46 people experiencing homelessness for every 10,000 residents, respectively. Though it is not a state, the District of Columbia also recorded a relatively high number with 73 of every 10,000 residents experiencing homelessness.
HUD also found that although Florida and Texas contributed larger numbers of people experiencing homelessness to the national count, they had rates of homelessness lower than the national average of 18 people per 10,000 residents – a figure that was 14 people per 10,000 in Florida and 9 per 10,000 in Texas.
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"Homelessness is solvable and should not exist in the United States," HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said of the report. She explained that the Biden administration has worked with various levels of government to address the challenge of homelessness and added, "We’ve made some 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," Fudge added.
