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Homelessness hits its highest reported level as rents soar and pandemic aid lapses, U.S. says
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useapen
Dec 16, 2023, 4:29:18 AM12/16/23
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WASHINGTON — The United States experienced a dramatic 12% increase in
homelessness as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic
assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans,
federal officials said Friday.
About 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness, the highest number
since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007 to
count the homeless population. The total in the January count represents
an increase of about 70,650 homeless people compared to a year earlier.
The latest estimate also indicated that people becoming homeless for the
first time were behind much of the increase, and it ended a downward trend
in family homelessness that began in 2012.
“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,” House and Urban Development Secretary
Marcia Fudge said in a prepared statement.
The U.S. had been making steady progress until recent years in reducing
the homeless population as the government focused particularly on
increasing investments to get veterans into housing. The number of
homeless people dropped from about 637,000 in 2010 to about 554,000 in
2017.
The numbers ticked up to about 580,000 in the 2020 count and held
relatively steady over the next two years as Congress responded to the
Covid-19 pandemic with emergency rental assistance, stimulus payments, aid
to states and local governments and a temporary eviction moratorium.
Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on
Homelessness, a federal agency, said the extra assistance “held off the
rise in homelessness that we are now seeing,”
“While numerous factors drive homelessness, the most significant causes
are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing that
have left many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and one crisis away
from homelessness,” Olivet said.
Within the overall rise, homelessness among individuals rose by nearly
11%, among veterans by 7.4% and among families with children by 15.5%.
People who identify as Black make up just 13% of the U.S. population, but
comprised 37% of all people experiencing homelessness. And more than a
quarter of adults experiencing homelessness were over age 54.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-homelessness-hits-highest-
reported-level-rents-soar-pandemic-aid-la-rcna130029
homelessness as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic
assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans,
federal officials said Friday.
About 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness, the highest number
since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007 to
count the homeless population. The total in the January count represents
an increase of about 70,650 homeless people compared to a year earlier.
The latest estimate also indicated that people becoming homeless for the
first time were behind much of the increase, and it ended a downward trend
in family homelessness that began in 2012.
“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,” House and Urban Development Secretary
Marcia Fudge said in a prepared statement.
The U.S. had been making steady progress until recent years in reducing
the homeless population as the government focused particularly on
increasing investments to get veterans into housing. The number of
homeless people dropped from about 637,000 in 2010 to about 554,000 in
2017.
The numbers ticked up to about 580,000 in the 2020 count and held
relatively steady over the next two years as Congress responded to the
Covid-19 pandemic with emergency rental assistance, stimulus payments, aid
to states and local governments and a temporary eviction moratorium.
Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on
Homelessness, a federal agency, said the extra assistance “held off the
rise in homelessness that we are now seeing,”
“While numerous factors drive homelessness, the most significant causes
are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing that
have left many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and one crisis away
from homelessness,” Olivet said.
Within the overall rise, homelessness among individuals rose by nearly
11%, among veterans by 7.4% and among families with children by 15.5%.
People who identify as Black make up just 13% of the U.S. population, but
comprised 37% of all people experiencing homelessness. And more than a
quarter of adults experiencing homelessness were over age 54.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-homelessness-hits-highest-
reported-level-rents-soar-pandemic-aid-la-rcna130029
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