Homelessness surged by 12% to more than 650,000 in 2023, HUD report says

Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Homelessness in the United States soared by 12% to more than 650,000 people during a single-night count at the start of this year, reflecting a surge in first-time homelessness, the administration said Friday.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development stated in a new assessment of the homeless population provided to Congress that on a single night in January 2023, roughly 653,100 people -- or about 20 of every 10,000 people in the United States -- were experiencing homelessness.

That represented an increase of 12%, or roughly 70,650 people, in the number of Americans experiencing homelessness reported during a similar single-night count in January 2022, officials said.

It's highest number since HUD reporting the statistic in 2007.

The number of people who became homeless for the first time between fiscal years 2021 and 2022 surged by 25%, handily outpacing the 8% rise in those who exited homelessness during the same period, while homelessness among families with children shot up by 16%.

Biden administration officials attributed the boom in first-time homelessness to "a combination of factors," including rising rents and the winding down of pandemic-era protections and programs focusing on preventing evictions and housing loss.

Most notably, they said, rents spiked sharply in late 2022, reflecting an acute shortage of affordable housing supplies. That rate of rent growth, however, has now moderated thanks to more new housing now under construction becoming available to rent in the coming year, the report said.

HUD officials also reported they have helped more than 424,000 households connect to homeless support services, exit homelessness, or avoid homelessness altogether during 2023, while the Veterans Administration announced it has provided housing for more than 38,000 homeless veterans -- meeting its goal for 2023 two months early.

"Homelessness is solvable and should not exist in the United States," HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement, while touting the accomplishments of the Biden administration's Housing Supply Action Plan, which seeks to help close the U.S. housing supply shortfall within 5 years through a series of new financial and and regulatory policies.

"We've made positive strides, but there is still more work to be done," she said. "This data underscores the urgent need for support for proven solutions and strategies that help people quickly exit homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place."

Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said the winding down of pandemic-era protections has meant that millions of renters who once had been "stably housed" have been forced to re-enter "a brutal housing market, with skyrocketing rents and high inflation.

"Eviction filing rates have now reached or surpassed pre-pandemic averages in many communities, resulting in increased homelessness," she said in a statement. "Without significant and sustained federal investments to make housing affordable for people with the lowest incomes, the affordable housing and homelessness crises in this country will only continue to worsen."