The US saw a dramatic rise in homelessness at the start of 2024, counting 18% more unhoused people during its annual tally in January than the year before, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) reported on Friday.
Cities reported counting a total of 771,480 unhoused people in January, a number that is larger than the population of Seattle. Representing 23 out of every 10,000 Americans, the number is the highest ever recorded during the tally. Still, experts consider the number an undercount, since it reflects one point in time and misses many people staying with friends or family.
Hud found homelessness at record highs among nearly all demographic groups, but the largest increase was documented among families with children. Nearly 150,000 children were counted during the tally.
Only one community saw a decrease in homelessness rates: veterans. Due to targeted and sustained funding efforts to reduce veteran homelessness, Hud reports, the number of veterans experiencing homelessness decreased about 8% from 2023 (the rate has decreased 55% since 2009).
The report names several factors that probably contributed to 2024’s record rates of homelessness: a nationwide affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages, systemic racism, public health crises, natural disasters, immigration and an end to pandemic-era social supports like the expanded child tax credit.
When the data was collected in January, more than 5,200 people were sleeping in disaster emergency shelters in Hawaii, following the fire in Maui. Other natural disasters, like Hurricanes Helene and Milton, saw families displaced later in the year.
In January, cities were also working to shelter a rising number of asylum seekers – many of whom were families. Many cities have since closed their migrant shelter systems as rates of unauthorized border crossings fell this year.
In a press release, Hud noted that cities such as Dallas and Los Angeles had implemented programs that have successfully reduced local homelessness levels, like Dallas’s Street to Home Initiative and Los Angeles’s investments in affordable housing.
“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,” said Adrianne Todman, head of Hud. “While this data is nearly a year old, and no longer reflects the situation we are seeing, it is critical that we focus on evidence-based efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”
Alongside data on childhood and veteran homelessness, the report offers other insights into the demographic breakdowns of communities experiencing homelessness. The report found that a growing number of older adults (those aged 55 and up) are unhoused, totalling one in every five people counted in the report. It also found that Black Americans are disproportionately unhoused: people who identify as Black make up 12% of the US population, but represent 32% of all people experiencing homelessness.
The report also offered more insight into the shelter population. While about 72% of unhoused women and girls live in shelters, nearly 70% of men and boys (and more than 80% of those identifying as gender questioning) are unsheltered. Meanwhile, Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to be living in shelter systems (about 86% of those communities) while American Indians and Alaska Natives have the lowest sheltered rates at just under 50%.
The report comes as cities across the US have stepped up anti-encampment policies, following a June supreme court ruling that allows local authorities to prohibit camping in public even if no shelter beds are available. Since then, more than 100 cities have banned encampments.
“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, said 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.”
