HUD: January 2024 Point-in-Time Homelessness Count Report Released

The Annual Homelessness Assessment Report: Part 1 data highlights progress and challenges in Addressing Homelessness Across the Nation

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today released its 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates, an annual snapshot of the number of individuals in shelters, temporary housing, and unsheltered settings. The report found more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024, an 18% increase from 2023. This report reflects data collected a year ago and likely does not represent current circumstances, given changed policies and conditions.

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 FY2024 — marking the largest number of veterans housed in a single year since FY 2019. Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has been tackling the nation’s homelessness crisis with the urgency it requires, prioritizing new resources and programs to help communities quickly reconnect people experiencing homelessness to housing, while continuing to focus on the long-term strategy of developing more affordable housing.

“No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe, and quality housing they deserve,” said HUD Agency Head, The Honorable Adrianne Todman. “While this data is nearly a year old, and no longer reflects the situation we are seeing, it is critical that we focus on evidence-based efforts to prevent and end homelessness. We know what works and our success in reducing veteran homelessness by 55.2% since 2010 shows that.”

“We at HUD deeply appreciate the work of our continuums of care and other community partners to end homelessness, especially given the challenges of 2023,” said Marion McFadden, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development. “You are critical to the success of HUD’s mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.”

Some communities reported data to HUD that indicated that the rise in overall homelessness was a result of their work to shelter a rising number of asylum seekers coming into their communities. Importantly, this reporting was collected prior to the Biden-Harris Administration taking executive action to secure our border, after Congressional Republicans blocked a bipartisan Senate bill that would have provided needed resources and authorities to help reduce irregular migration. Since then, 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.

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. Whereas in the remaining 373 communities, the rise in families experiencing homelessness was less than 8%. 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. The PIT Count was conducted at the tail of significant increases in rental costs, as a result of the pandemic and nearly decades of under-building of housing. Rents are flat or even down in many cities since January.

The Maui fire, in addition to other natural disasters, had an impact on the increase in homelessness. In Hawai’i, more than 5,200 people were sleeping in disaster emergency shelters on the night of the PIT count due to the Maui fire. HUD continues to work diligently with the state of Hawai’i and Maui County through funding and technical assistance to support long-term recovery from the fire. Over the last year, since the PIT Count was conducted, rental costs have stabilized, with rents down in some cities.

Multiple communities saw a marked decrease in people experiencing homelessness. Some of those cities include:

• Dallas – In 2021, Dallas transformed its homelessness response system with a focus on connecting individuals and families experiencing homelessness to housing. To do this they created the Street to Home Initiative – a $30 million public-private initiative which strives to cut unsheltered homelessness in half by 2026. The initiative led to a 16 percent decrease in homelessness between 2022 and 2024.
• Los Angeles – Struggling with a high-cost rental market, Los Angeles increased the availability of housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, combining Federal, City, and County funds. This led to a decline in homelessness for the first time in 7 years. Unsheltered homelessness throughout all of Los Angeles County declined by 5% since 2023.
• Chester County, PA – Chester County has taken several steps to address homelessness that have led to a nearly 60 percent decrease in homelessness since 2019. These efforts include eviction prevention case resolution, the expansion of housing first training programs, an increase in affordable housing groups, and fair housing education and prevention efforts specifically for migrant workers.

Since the Point-In-Time Count was conducted in January, HUD has released various funding opportunities 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 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.
• July 22^nd: Announced $175 million opportunity to build Permanent Supportive Housing. (Awards expected in 2025)
• July 31^st: Announced $3.5 billion opportunity to fund homelessness assistance programs through the Continuum of Care program. (Awards expected in 2025)
• August 13^th: Announced an additional $100 million opportunity 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. (Awards expected in 2025)
• 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.
• In 2021, The HOME-American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP) program provided $5 billion to 648 participating jurisdictions (PJs) to be used for strategic local investments in housing, homelessness assistance, and supportive services. With HOME-ARP funding, jurisdictions plan to produce 22,271 new housing units and support 24,540 affordable housing units through tenant-based rental vouchers.

Additional Biden-Harris Administration’s announcements:

• Today, HUD announced the expansion of the Housing and Services Partnership Accelerator, a joint effort with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to strengthen coordination between housing and service providers.
• In collaboration with HHS and the General Services Administration (GSA), HUD unveiled new resources under Title V to repurpose federal properties for affordable housing and homeless assistance.
• HUD will award $39.8 million through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program to provide rental assistance and supportive services to combat veteran homelessness.