Homeless Numbers Rise in U.S. Cities
Wall Street Journal review finds sharper increases than in recent years as pandemic-era protections end and housing costs climb
The number of homeless people counted on streets and in shelters around the U.S. has broadly risen this year, according to a Wall Street Journal review of data from around the nation.
The Journal reviewed data from 150 entities that count homeless people in areas ranging from cities to entire states. More than 100 places reported increases in early 2023 counts compared with 2022, and collectively, their numbers indicate the U.S. may see a sharper climb than in recent years. Most major urban areas reporting data so far have seen increases, including Chicago, Miami, Boston and Phoenix.
The increases underscore what advocates for the homeless say is growing pressure from high housing costs and the end of temporary pandemic-era protections, such as eviction moratoriums.
“We have increased homelessness and increased destabilization,” said Shannon Isom, chief executive of Community Shelter Board, a government-supported organization that reported a 22% homeless increase in the Columbus, Ohio-area.
The annual point-in-time count there, conducted Jan. 25, found 2,337 homeless people.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development collects the data, which are still considered preliminary and could change. The department said it would release more comprehensive results with a national estimate late this year.
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a federal agency, said many communities are seeing increases after the end of rental assistance and other pandemic programs. The agency said the Biden administration had awarded $486 million in new vouchers and grants, among other steps, since this year’s count.
Roughly 400 organizations, known as continuums of care, conduct so-called point-in-time counts each year. These tallies are imperfect snapshots: They are widely considered undercounts, and factors such as weather and changing methodology can affect results. But the results are widely relied upon to assess trends and marshal resources.
The Journal received data from 67 of the 100 locales with the highest homeless counts last year, along with many others. Preliminary data show 48 of those 67 reported an increase this year, with combined counts up 9% from the numbers HUD published for those places in 2022 and 13% since 2020. Some places said comparisons to 2020 are better because of counting disruptions during the pandemic.
If this trend holds, the U.S. could notch a sharper climb after several recent years of smaller recorded increases.
Nationally, HUD estimated there were roughly 582,500 people experiencing homelessness on a single night early last year, up less than a percentage point from 2020.
The final U.S. estimate will depend heavily on New York City and Los Angeles County, which had by far the highest homeless numbers last year and haven’t yet reported their new point-in-time figures.
Data in the Journal’s review covers places that reported about 43% of last year’s national tally.
Rising housing costs and the limited supply of affordable apartments are major factors contributing to homelessness around the country, according to the continuums performing the counts.
In the Phoenix-area, where a local government association says apartment rents rose 68% between 2017 and 2022, Maricopa County recorded a 7% homeless increase. That was in part because more shelter beds were added in the area. People in shelters are easier to count than those living on the street.
Sue Coss, 55 years old, said she and her longtime boyfriend had received a housing voucher during the pandemic. She said she became homeless for the first time this spring after they were evicted from their Phoenix-area home.
“We didn’t have the money,” she said. “There’s no help. And there’s a lot of people in our situation right now.”
Some temporary measures, such as eviction bans and other pandemic aid, were aimed at trying to keep people in their homes during the pandemic.
“When they went away, the numbers went back up,” said David Hewitt, director of housing stability for Hennepin County, Minn., which includes Minneapolis.
The continuum there last year had its smallest homeless numbers since it began counting about a decade-and-a-half ago, which Hewitt credited in part to rental assistance and a halt on evictions.
But homelessness rose 24% this year, even as adult homeless numbers fell, driven by a 79% surge in homeless families. A county policy guarantees shelter space for families.
California, known for its expensive housing markets, has spent $17 billion the past four fiscal years on a homeless problem that continued worsening through last year’s numbers.
Mental-health issues and opioid dependence are often complicating factors, and the fentanyl crisis has taken a deadly toll on homeless people.
Migrant arrivals are a factor in some places.
Chicago said roughly 2,200 asylum seekers in shelters were included in a homeless count that surged 58% from a count last year that preceded the migrant influx.
The largest number in the Journal’s data review came from San Diego County, which counted 10,264 homeless people, a 22% increase from last year. One factor was the first-ever count of people camping on state transportation property, including under overpasses. Even without those additions, the numbers there were 14% higher.
“What you’re seeing is a system that is stressed and overloaded,” said Ray Ellis, chair of San Diego’s Regional Task Force on Homelessness.
Some places reported decreases, including Sonoma County, Calif., where the homeless count dropped 22%, and the region including Colorado Springs, Colo. which reported its lowest homeless count since 2016. Officials and advocates in both areas—as well as Indianapolis—said additional housing units helped reduce homeless numbers.
Some counts have caveats. Delaware reported a sharp statewide decline, but the nonprofit running the continuum suggested it was influenced by temporary hotel/motel shelter beds getting cut back to prepandemic levels. The statewide increase in North Dakota followed the first-ever inclusion of a count on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians Tribal land, the continuum coordinator there said.
Albuquerque’s sharply higher 2023 tally partially reflects a more robust counting effort that found more people, said William Bowen of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness.
The city recently turned an old hospital into a homeless-services center, and the city council will soon vote on zoning changes aimed at adding housing, said Mayor Tim Keller, a Democrat. A recent state legislative report highlighted New Mexico’s homeless surge and a shrinking supply of affordable rental units.