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What are 10 facts about homelessness in America?
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Fact: Homelessness usually happens because of economic reasons (such as job loss), and many people have nowhere else to go but outside. Many shelters are full or limited to people who are sober, straight, free of disability or criminal history, and/or willing to separate from their children, partners, or pets.
Jan 5, 2024 · Key facts and data points include: Homelessness has been on the rise since 2017, experiencing an overall increase of 6 percent. In 2022, counts of individuals (421,392 people) and chronically homeless individuals (127,768) reached record highs in the history of data collection.
1. Although homelessness increased slightly – by 0.3% – between 2017 and 2018, it's been on a general downward trend for the past decade, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness....
- Homelessness Has Many Causes
- Certain Groups Are at A Higher Risk of Homelessness
- LGBTQ+ Youth Are Uniquely Vulnerable
- Veterans Face Increased Risks, But There’S Been Significant Progress
- Many Cities Address Homelessness by Criminalizing It
- Homelessness Is A Health Issue
- Many Unhoused People in The United States Have Jobs
- Homelessness Is Very Stigmatized in The United States
- There Are Effective Solutions to Ending Homelessness
In the United States, several factors intersect and build on one another to create conditions that lead to homelessness. Poverty is a major cause. While affordable housing has decreased, wages haven’t kept up. This churns up a perfect storm of high housing prices, low pay, and reduced public assistance. A lack of affordable healthcare drives homele...
According to HUD data, certain groups are more likely to experience homelessness than others. Out of 10,000 men, 22 are homeless, while 13 out of 10,000 women are homeless. HUD data also finds that race and ethnicity affect risk; racial and ethnic groups that have faced marginalization – like Black Americans and Native Americans – experience increa...
For a few reasons, LGBTQ+ youth are at high risk for homelessness. Of the roughly 1.6 million young people who experience homelessness each year, up to 40% identify as LGBTQ+. According to a 2013 Child Trends article, these young people are also more likely to experience homelessness at a younger age than other unsheltered youth. Rejection from fam...
In the United States, veterans face the usual risks for homelessness – a lack of affordable housing, poverty, and unemployment – but they also have higher risks for mental illness, substance abuse, and social isolation. Historically, these factors have made veterans more likely to experience homelessness than non-veterans. In 2009, The National Coa...
Unfortunately, many places in the United States respond to homelessness by categorizing it as a crime. That doesn’t mean laws directly say “being homeless makes you a criminal,” but cities have created webs of laws that end up essentially criminalizing homelessness. “Hiding Homelessness: The Transcarceration of Homelessness”from the California Law ...
Being homeless can have catastrophic effects on a person’s health. According to a 2019 fact sheet from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, unhoused people have higher rates of illness and die around 12 years earlier than the general U.S. population. Issues include a lack of safe places to store essential medications, an increased vul...
There’s a very common misconception that if unhoused people just got jobs, they could get off the streets. However, in the US, thousands of unhoused people are already employed. In a 2017 survey, 8% of unhoused individuals said they were working part-time, seasonal, or temporary jobs. 27% of unhoused adults with children said they worked part or fu...
While the causes of homelessness are closely linked to poverty, a lack of affordable housing, and soaring healthcare costs, huge portions of American society see homelessness as a personal issue. The rhetoric around homelessness can be deeply dehumanizing. Narratives about moral failings, laziness, filth, danger, and so on abound. It’s not uncommon...
Solutions like framing housing as a human right (which is described in one of the essays in this article) and tackling the roots of homelessness are effective. However, the United States lacks a cohesive, national housing policy. Homelessness solutions are currently left to state and local governments and organizations, which creates a patchwork of...
Learn about the causes, trends, and data of homelessness in the United States and Philadelphia. Find out how Project HOME provides housing, health care, and support services to people experiencing homelessness.
Learn about the current and historical trends of homelessness in the United States, including the number, demographics, causes, and challenges of this social issue. Find data on shelters, veterans, youth, health, and public opinion.
February 29, 2024 – Between 2022 and 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. jumped 12 percent—the largest yearly increase since the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) started collecting data in 2007.
