2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report 

A recent report by The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development caught our eye and since we have written extensively about homelessness, we could not start 2025 without bringing these last words from 2024 to our readers' attention. We will publish our "Ahead in 2025" blog next week.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report

• A census taken on one night in January 2024 reported that roughly 770,000 people were homeless on that night.
• That's an increase of 18% over 2023.
• On the heels of a 12% 2023 increase over 2022.
• That is the largest single year increase in homelessness in American history.
• Caused by rising housing costs and the influx of migrants.
• The largest increases were in New York City, Chicago, and Denver.
• 18 unexpected states where there wasn't a great influx of migrants like Kansas, Alaska, Utah, and Idaho also reached record homelessness levels.
• Migration had a particularly notable impact on family homelessness, which rose 39% from 2023-2024. In the 13 communities that reported being affected by migration, family homelessness more than doubled.
• 150,000 children were homeless on the night they surveyed.
• These stats point to the compounding power of the affordability crisis coupled with the migrant crisis.
• Half of all people experiencing homelessness are working.
• Last year's Supreme court decision that allowed local communities to criminalize homelessness shifted the focus away from solutions toward penalties.

The Surprising 2024 Success Story

• However, through targeted funding and interventions that utilize evidence-based practices, homelessness among veterans dropped to the lowest number on record. There was a nearly 8% decrease – from 35,574 in 2023 to 32,882 in 2024 – in the number of veterans experiencing homelessness. Among unsheltered veterans, the number dropped nearly 11% – from 15,507 in 2023 to 13,851 in 2024.
• This year, HUD has helped connect nearly 90,000 veteran households to stable, rental homes through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it has permanently housed 47,925 Veterans experiencing homelessness in 2024 — marking the largest number of veterans housed in a single year since 2019.
• We know what works and our success in reducing veteran homelessness by 55.2% since 2010 shows that.
• Unlawful crossings at the border have dropped by more than 60%. Encounters are at their lowest since July 2020. As a result, migrant arrivals to communities across the country have dropped significantly. In Chicago, for example, the migrant shelter census is down more than 60% and, in Denver, the shelter census is down nearly 100%. This fall, both cities announced an end to their migrant shelter systems.
• Rents have also stabilized significantly since January 2024. Since then, HUD has added 435,000 new rental units in the first three quarters of 2024; that’s more than 120,000 new units each quarter. Over the last year, since the PIT Count was conducted, rental costs have stabilized, with rents down in some cities.

Ongoing Support in 2024

Since the Point-In-Time Count was conducted in January 2024, HUD has released substantial funding to address homelessness:

• January 29^th: Awarded $3.16 billion in homelessness assistance funding to communities nationwide through the Continuum of Care program.
• May 7^th: Awarded $290 million to 357 grantees to address homelessness through Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG). 
• June 6^th: Awarded $51.1 million in Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) grants which is the first of its kind funding, focusing on systemic change to either improve or create response systems for youth at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
• June 26^th: Awarded $85 million through HUD’s Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program. PRO Housing helps communities continue to address restrictive land use or regulatory policies; improve and implement housing strategies; and facilitate the construction of new housing and repairs to existing homes and cut energy costs.
• October 29^th: Awarded $72 million through the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) to fund housing and supportive services for youth experiencing homelessness.
• December 19^th: Announced the $225 million Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Program to preserve and revitalize manufactured housing and manufactured housing communities.
• Multiple awards: Awarded over $27M in ESG- Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing (RUSH) funds to help residents and families who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have needs that are not otherwise served or fully met by existing Federal disaster relief programs.

It Was a Very Good Year

Although homelessness persists in this country, 2024 was a year of solid progress toward alleviating a homeless epidemic and initiating solid new programs that will see more progress in 2025.