ANALYSIS: HUD Report on Homelessness Should Turn Heads
National homeless numbers released on Friday are significantly higher than in recent years. The solutions are local.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Days before the beginning of the New Year, and nearly 12 months after the counts of homeless people were collected, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued its annual report on homelessness. And the data are jarring.
Among the top-line findings from the report:
The number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 was the highest ever recorded. A total of 771,480 people – or about 23 of every 10,000 people in the United States – experienced homelessness in an emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing program, or in unsheltered locations across the country.
Nearly all populations reached record levels. Homelessness among people in families with children, individuals, individuals with chronic patterns of homelessness, people staying in unsheltered locations, people staying in sheltered locations, and unaccompanied youth all reached the highest recorded numbers in 2024.
People in families with children had the largest single year increase in homelessness. Between 2023 and 2024, 39 percent more people in families with children experienced homelessness.
Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024, reflecting a 33 percent increase (or 32,618 more children) over 2023.
About one in every five people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 was age 55 or older.
People who identify as Black, African American, or African continue to be overrepresented among the population experiencing homelessness.
A notable exception to the upward trend of homelessness is with the number of veterans experiencing homelessness.
“Veterans were the only population,” according to the report, “to report continued declines in homelessness. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of veterans experiencing homelessness declined by eight percent, or 2,692 fewer veterans.”
The report’s data comes from the Point-in-Time counts, which are administered by the roughly 365 Continuums of Care (CoC) nationwide, usually during the last 10 days of January each year.
According to the report, 43 states plus the District of Columbia saw increased numbers of homeless from 2023 - 2024.
But while the overall numbers of homeless are up sharply, the increases are not evenly distributed across the states.
As the chart above demonstrates, Virginia has experienced a relatively modest growth, while North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia have seen greater surges.
Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford
Over the past eight years, the homeless population in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford — described by the report as Largely Suburban — has been remarkably stable. The most homeless counted from 2016 - 2024 was 254 in 2022; the least homeless counted was 180 in 2021. On average, the region has had about 213 homeless people per annum.
These relatively stable numbers are consistent with what we see in many other Virginia communities.
The homeless population in Richmond/Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover — also described as Largely Suburban — has been a bit more volatile than that in our area. The most homeless counted in the Richmond region from 2019 - 2024 was 834 in 2021; the least homeless counted was 497 in 2019. On average, the region has had about 657 homeless people per annum.
Rural areas have been hardest hit by homelessness in Virginia. Looking at the numbers of homeless in the region defined by the report as “Virginia Balance of State,” which are categorized as Largely Rural, we see consistent growth in the homeless population since 2019 (See chart below).
While Virginia has certainly seen growth in homelessness, it hasn’t seen the sharp spikes in states such as Illinois, New York, Alabama, and Colorado.
The overall surge in homelessness is due to many factors, according to the HUD report, including “worsening national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism.” In addition, there have been “additional public health crises, natural disasters that displaced people from their homes, rising numbers of people immigrating to the U.S., and the end to homelessness prevention programs put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the end of the expanded child tax credit.”
Understanding the Homeless Crisis
In an email exchange with the Advance on Friday evening, Micah Ecumenical Ministries Executive Director Meghann Cotter noted that the impact of migrants on large U.S. cities should not be underestimated.
Referencing a Chicago-based colleague, Cotter said “It never occurred to me that the migrant population would be considered homeless (as refugees are usually not) but in many cities where the busses have dropped people off with no preparation or services in place this is very true.”
The fact that “Fredericksburg specifically has not been affected by this dynamic” is one reason our numbers have been relatively stable.
Cotter also sees encouraging information in the report, however.
“It’s intriguing to look at the vet numbers and consider why those numbers are decreasing,” she wrote to the Advance.
Noting that Vets “have long been the golden population for both political and resource persuasion,” she says that “[w]hen advocates cannot get political will behind homelessness generally, they can usually get leaders behind help for veterans.”
The result is that while resources still aren’t sufficient for this population, it’s “more right sized for the need of that population over others.”
She also points to communities that are seeing declines in their numbers.
These communities are being successful, she notes, because “[t]hey are building both affordable and supportive housing. They are implementing robust wrap-around supports for people with special needs (mental health, developmental disabilities, chronic illness and substance abuse) who don’t have family support.”
Finding the Will to Address the Problem
As with so many problems that present with numbers that make it difficult for the average person to get their head around, a sense of helplessness about what to do can descend.
How does one individual help three-quarters of a million homeless people?
Cotter brings the solution back to the local communities.
“At some point,” she wrote, “we have to take a hard look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we are ok being a community and a nation where people sleep outside. If the answer is no, we need to begin to do the hard work of getting out of our own way.”
Once we decide that this is unacceptable, we can begin to appreciate that the “real solutions are always local; and it doesn’t always cost money,” she wrote. “There are tangible ways we can make our zoning more effective. We can leverage private giving. We can empower the gifts and talents of community to devise real solutions. And when we do, not only will our unhoused neighbors flourish, but so will the rest of us.”
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