News

U.S. Homelessness Increased for Seventh Straight Year

Homelessness in the U.S. increased for the seventh straight year, according to an annual report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness published May 16.

There were 582,462 unhoused people accounted for during the January 2022 point-in-time count conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is an increase of 2,004 people from 2021 and up 32,534 people since 2016 (the last year in which the number decreased).

This means that 18 in every 10,000 people living in the U.S. are currently experiencing homelessness. Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander was the highest unhoused rate (121.2 per 10,000), followed by Black or African American (48.2), American Indian (44.9), multi racial (36.1), Hispanic or Latino (22.4), white (11.6) and Asian or Asian American (4.1).

Washington D.C. had the highest homeless rate at 66 per 10,000, followed by California (44), Vermont (43), Oregon (42), Hawaii (41), New York (37), Washington (33), Maine (32), Arkansas, Nevada (24) and Delaware (24).

Of the unhoused people identified in the latest point-in-time count, 421,392 were individuals and 161,070 were families. In addition, 127,768 of the total were experiencing chronic homelessness (unhoused for at least a year or repeatedly), 33,129 were veterans and 30,090 were unaccompanied youth.

“In 2022, counts of individuals (421,392 people) and chronically homeless individuals (127,768) reached record highs in the history of data collection,” the report said. “Homeless services systems continued to expand the availability of both temporary and permanent beds in 2022, but these resources still fall short of reaching everyone in need.”

The full report is available here.

Previous ArticleNext Article