US homelessness up 18 percent in last year amid cost of living crisis
Al Jazeera
Continued rise in homelessness in the United States driven largely by lack of affordable housing options, experts say.
The number of people living in homelessness in the United States has increased by 18 percent over the last year, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in a new report.
Data released on Friday showed that more than 771,000 people were experiencing homelessness across the country, according to an annual count that was carried out on a single night in January 2024.
The figure — which HUD said was the highest-ever recorded — includes people staying in emergency shelters, safe havens, transitional housing, or in unsheltered locations in the US.
It does not include those living in certain other forms of housing instability, such as people staying with a friend or family member because they lack shelter of their own.
“Our worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits,” the department’s report (PDF) reads.
