The US homeless population increased between 2020 and 2022 to over half a million Americans currently homeless, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This after a period of decline.
The report stated that 60 percent of the homeless were “staying in sheltered locations—emergency shelters, safe havens, or transitional housing programs—and four in ten (40%) were in unsheltered locations such as on the street, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not suitable for human habitation.”
“Between 2020 and 2022, the overall number of people experiencing homelessness increased by less than one percent (1,996 people). This increase reflects a three percent increase in people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, which was offset by a two percent decline in people staying in sheltered locations,” the report reads.
Out of the 582,462 homeless individuals, two thirds are living in shelters with about half of all “unsheltered” homeless people located in California. This has led some cities in the Golden State to start cracking down on encampments in cities like Sacramento, San Jose and Oakland.
“More than half of all people experiencing homelessness in the country were in four states:
California (30% or 171,521 people); New York (13% or 74,178 people); Florida (5% or 25,959 people); and Washington (4% or 25,211),” the report read.
