As rents soar, homelessness hit record high: HUD

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, December 19, 2023

As rents soared and programs focused on preventing evictions and housing loss ended, homelessness hit a record high in 2023, with roughly 20 out of every 10,000 people in the United States found to be experiencing homelessness on a single night, a new report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows.

Among the key findings of HUD's 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates, officials found that homelessness increased across all household types. Roughly 653,100 people nationwide were experiencing homelessness during a Point-In-Time count conducted in January 2023.

Between 2022 and 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness increased by 12%, or an increase of roughly 70,650 people. The 2023 Point-in-Time count is the highest number of people reported as experiencing homelessness on a single night since reporting began in 2007, officials say. 

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Homelessness among people in families with children rose 16%, while individuals registered an 11% increase in the homeless population.

Most of the homelessness crisis remains centered in the nation's 50 largest cities. According to the data, nearly 60% of the people experiencing homelessness did so in urban areas, while the remainder of the homeless population was noted in suburban areas (23%) and rural communities (18%).

Reacting to the findings Friday, HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said homelessness "should not exist in the United States" because it is "solvable."

"From day one, this Administration has put forth a comprehensive plan to tackle homelessness and we've acted aggressively and in conjunction with our federal, state, and local partners to address this challenge," Fudge said in a statement.

"We've made 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."

The data also shows a sharp increase in people who became homeless for the first time. Between the federal fiscal years of 2021 and 2022, there was a 25% increase in people who became newly homeless, even as the number of people who exited homelessness to permanent housing increased by 8%, the agency said.

HUD attributes the rise in homelessness to several factors, including "recent changes in the rental housing market and the winding down of pandemic protections and programs focused on preventing evictions and housing loss." Additionally, rental housing conditions were "extraordinarily challenging" in the year leading up to the January Point-in-Time count. 

"[T]he supply shortage of 2022 likely contributed to this increase in rents and homelessness in 2022," the HUD release states. 

A 2019 report released by the White House Office of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration titled "The State of Homelessness in America" called homelessness a "serious problem" in America "due to decades of misguided and faulty policies."

It also pointed out that homelessness is concentrated in major cities on the West Coast and the Northeast, like Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C., with nearly half (47%) of unsheltered homeless people found in California alone.