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 on Friday.
The number of people experiencing homelessness topped 770,000, an increase of more than 18 percent 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.
