WASHINGTON — Homelessness soared to the highest level on record this year, driven by forces that included a surge in migrants seeking asylum, a national housing crisis and the end of pandemic-era measures to protect the needy, the federal government reported Friday.

The number of people experiencing homelessness topped 770,000, an increase of more than 18% over last year and the largest annual increase since the count began in 2007. Nearly every category of unhoused people grew, with the rise especially steep among children and people in families.

The report, released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, showed that homelessness had risen by a third in the past two years, after years of only modest fluctuations. The agency blamed factors such as “our worsening national affordable-housing crisis,” inflation and the end of certain aid programs from the pandemic.

Related Story: Illegal Immigrant Faces Murder Charges in Death of Woman Lit on Fire in NYC ...

But federal officials on a call with reporters placed special emphasis on the rise in asylum-seeking migrants who overwhelmed the shelter systems where much of the increase occurred.

Government Does Not Track Migration Status of Homeless

The government does not track the migration status of the homeless, so it is hard to precisely disentangle the twin crises of domestic poverty and foreigners fleeing troubled lands — distinct challenges with different solutions.

It is possible that much or even most of the rise came from the increase in foreign asylum-seekers that started in 2022 but has begun to abate since the homeless count occurred at the start of this year.

Still, the record numbers are likely to widen the growing partisan divide over domestic homelessness. Democrats often blame soaring housing costs, flagging government rental subsidies and extremes in economic inequality, and they tend to support an expanded safety net.

Many Republicans blame liberal permissiveness and want to require unhoused people to seek aid for mental illness or substance abuse as a condition of receiving aid. President-elect Donald Trump has called for clearing cities of encampments and placing unhoused people into camps.

Veterans were the lone group among whom homelessness declined last year, the report found. That continues a long-term trend driven by bipartisan support for services and housing that is at odds with the rancor of the broader homelessness debate. The number of homeless veterans fell 8% last year and is down more than half since 2009.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jason DeParle/Ruth Fremson
c. 2024 The New York Times Company