Homelessness has plagued U.S. cities and their residents for decades, resulting in dedicated funds and continuums of care (CoC) to support affected individuals and families. But despite these efforts, the crisis is worsening.

In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found the national homelessness rate increased 2.7% in 2019 from 2018 levels, with 567,715 people experiencing homelessness on a single night. As unemployment rates climb amid the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers are expected to rise.

In an effort to analyze and influence progress toward ending homelessness, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) released its State of Homelessness 2020 report. The interactive report looks at data from all levels of government to detail homelessness assistance trends, at-risk populations and health crisis predictions, among other findings.

Progress to alleviate homelessness has not been made evenly across all subgroups of the homeless population. For instance, veterans have seen a 50% reduction in homelessness over the last decade, while reduction rates are much lower for the unsheltered, who may sleep on the street or in cars (10%); the chronically homeless (9%) and for those simply defined as individuals (0.2%), which includes all homeless individuals who are not veterans, unaccompanied youth or chronically homeless.

Read the full article about homelessness by Kristin Musulin at Smart Cities Dive.