All States, Territories, Puerto Rico and District of Columbia
After steady declines from 2010 to 2016, homelessness in America has been rising, and more individuals are experiencing it in unsheltered settings, such as encampments. This increase stems from decades of growing economic inequality exacerbated by a global pandemic, soaring housing costs, and housing supply shortfalls. It is further exacerbated by inequitable access to health care, including mental health and/or substance use disorder treatment; discrimination and exclusion of people of color, LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities and older adults; as well as the consequences of mass incarceration. As our nation faces the growing threats of climate change, more Americans are being displaced from their homes and people experiencing unsheltered homelessness face even greater risk to their health and safety as a result of climate-related crises like wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. Even as homelessness response systems are helping more people than ever exit homelessness, more people are entering or reentering homelessness.[1]
The most recently published (2022) Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR) documents that in the United States on a single night in January 2022, 582,462 people were experiencing homelessness, including 233,832 unsheltered persons, 285,470 sheltered persons, and 63,160 persons in transitional housing. [2] The report also shows that homelessness is concentrated in several states and large cities – about one in five persons experiencing homelessness stays in New York City or Los Angeles, and 50 percent of people experiencing homelessness were counted in California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Massachusetts (compared to about 35 percent of Americans residing in these states).
You can learn more about homelessness in the United States here:
U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
National Alliance to End Homelessness
[2] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report.