The number of homeless people in the U.S. reached the highest level recorded in 2024, as more than 770,000 people lived without housing on a single night in January, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual report.
The number is an 18% increase from 2023, fueled in part by the surge of migrants illegally entering the U.S. and residing without housing in sanctuary cities, the report noted.
HUD said the data snapshot, collected a year ago, no longer reflects current conditions, noting that the migrant situation has stabilized, and that Chicago and Denver have announced an end to their migrant shelter systems.
“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 HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman. “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.”
The National Alliance to End Homelessness blames the rise of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations on a lack of affordable housing, pointing to an estimated shortage of 7.3 million units of affordable and available rental homes in the country.
“The answer to ending homelessness is ensuring everyone has access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Our leaders must immediately expand the resources to rehouse people without homes and assist the rapidly growing number of people who cannot afford skyrocketing rents,” said NAEH CEO Ann Oliva. “This record-setting increase in homelessness should sound the alarm for federal, state, and local lawmakers to advance evidence-based solutions to this crisis.”
Oliva said the reported 8% reduction in veteran homelessness provides a roadmap for policymakers on how to address overall homelessness; namely, by increasing federal funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and investing in homelessness prevention and racial equity programs.
Public Safety Policy Director Devon Kurtz from the Cicero Institute said the drivers of the homelessness crisis are not merely economic, but related to health and public safety as well, specifically regarding the unsheltered homeless population.
“The unsheltered, that’s where we see a bigger behavioral health component, and a greater connection between homelessness and the criminal justice system,” Kurtz told The Center Square. “And that goes both ways, you know, people who are leaving prisons and become homeless, and people who are homeless and cycle through the jail and prison systems.
“It’s really an all/and [situation] as opposed to a bunch of individual factors that are driving most of it – it’s mostly a combination of things,” he added, referencing drug use, substance abuse, and mental health issues as influencing factors.
Roughly 75% of the unsheltered homeless population have a drug or alcohol addiction, and 78% have a severe mental illness, according to data collected by the Cicero Institute.
The state of California, which has the highest homeless population in the U.S., is set to implement Prop. 36, which will crack down on drug-related crimes and offer treatment as an option in lieu of incarceration.
