Number of homeless people in the US reaches record level in 2024

(Patria) - The homeless population in the United States has increased by more than 18 percent over the past year, driven by high housing costs, natural disasters and a rise in migration to large cities, government officials said, the BBC reported.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said on Friday that more than 770,000 people were in shelters, temporary housing or without shelter, according to a survey conducted on a single night in January 2024.

That is an increase of 12% compared to the previous year and the highest since the federal government began its annual homeless count in 2007.

The figure is likely an undercount, as it does not include people temporarily staying with family and friends.

Authorities warned that the data is nearly a year old and that both rents and the situation at the U.S. border have changed since the survey was conducted.

Family homelessness overall rose by 39% compared to a year earlier and more than doubled in 13 locations that reported being affected by migration.

This contrasted with more than 370 other local areas that did not report being affected by migration, where the number of homeless families rose by an average of less than 8%.

Children under 18 experienced the largest increase, with nearly 150,000 homeless on the night of the survey. The number of homeless people aged 65 and over increased by 6%.

The report also noted positive trends. Homelessness among military veterans fell by 8%, continuing a multi-year decline, and some cities managed to get homeless people off the streets.

In Los Angeles, which has some of the highest housing costs in the country, the number of homeless people decreased by 5%, the first decline in seven years, HUD officials said.

The number of homeless people in Dallas fell by 16% over two years, and Chester County, near Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, recorded a 60% drop over five years due to legal and educational programs, an increase in affordable housing and homelessness prevention efforts targeting migrant workers, officials said.

Some local authorities say the growing number of asylum seekers has resulted in higher figures.

In recent years, a record number have tried to enter the U.S., and starting in late 2022, Republican governors in Texas and Florida sent tens of thousands of migrants to Democrat-controlled cities such as New York, Chicago and Denver, where many were housed in temporary shelters.

The report notes that illegal border crossings at the U.S. border have fallen by more than 60 percent since the January homeless count, and encounters at the border itself are at their lowest level since July 2020.

Authorities in several major cities have begun closing migrant shelters.

The report also notes that the survey was conducted after a period of rent spikes and that rents are "the same or even lower in many cities since January."

Natural disasters were another factor driving the high numbers. The figure included more than 5,200 people sleeping in emergency shelters in Hawaii, following the devastating wildfires on Maui in August 2023.