HUD: Homelessness Up by 12 Percent

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2023 Point-in-Time Count, “on a single night in 2023, roughly 653,100 people – or about 20 of every 10,000 people in the United States – were experiencing homelessness,” an increase of 12 percent from 2022. Of those, six out of ten were ‘sheltered’ in emergency or transitional housing, while four out of ten were unsheltered. The Point-in-Time count is conducted each January by local agencies.

An article in Big Country News notes that the number of unhoused people in Idaho rose by 15 percent to 2,298, while Washington state saw an increase of more than 11 percent.

A HUD press release adds that “HUD data indicates that the rise in overall homelessness is largely due to a sharp rise in the number of people who became homeless for the first time.” The agency attributes this in large part to “recent changes in the rental housing market and the winding down of pandemic protections and programs focused on preventing evictions and housing loss.”