Homelessness in US reaches record high

More than 770,000 people were living in shelters or outside in the United States in January, according to an annual federal report on homelessness by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The number is up 18% from last year's count — which had also jumped from the year before — and is the largest number since HUD started doing this report in 2007, News.az reports, citing foreign media.

HUD released its report Friday, based on the January "point-in-time" survey in cities around the country. The results punctuated a trend advocates for homeless people and affordable housing have been highlighting.

"A lot of families, a lot of households, a lot of individuals are still struggling. I think we're still in — for deeply poor people — a real recovery from the pandemic," says Jeff Olivet, who until recently was executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

He says homelessness has been rising since 2017, driven by a massive shortage of affordable housing that's pushed prices up. Research finds that where rents go up, so does homelessness. That rise stalled during the pandemic, Olivet notes, when sweeping federal aid helped keep people housed. But since that help ended, people still face higher prices for housing, food, and other everyday goods.

HUD officials say another key factor was the recent increase in asylum seekers coming to the U.S., often fleeing dangerous conditions in their home countries. In 13 communities that reported being affected by migration, family homelessness more than doubled. Overall, it was up 39%.

There was also an increase in the number of people overall living outside - that is, not in shelters; those considered chronically homeless; and unaccompanied youth. One bright spot was a decline in the number of unhoused veterans. This year that actually fell to a record low, after years of intense investment in subsidized housing and support services.

The report also says extreme weather disasters contributed to the rise, and specifically cites last year's fire in Maui that had left 5,200 people still in shelters during the January count.

The annual report is widely considered an undercount, and does not include people crowding in with family or friends because they can no longer pay rent.

News.Az