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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released the 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress (Part 1). The report shows that homelessness increased by 0.3 percent since 2020.
In light of the unprecedented economic strain caused by COVID-19, combined with a severe and prolonged nationwide affordable housing crisis, the numbers buck predictions that homelessness would skyrocket during the pandemic. The progress for specific populations illustrates that federal resources, when targeted to the needs of specific subpopulations and combined with best practices on the system and provider level, can and do prevent and end homelessness.
Unfortunately, they also illustrate that homelessness increases among other subpopulations when these investments are not scaled or targeted to their needs.
Key Increases
The report shows that on a single night in 2022, at least 582,462 people experienced homelessness in the United States. This represents an increase of nearly 2,000 people since 2020. Of those experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2022, 384,630 were sheltered, and 233,832 were unsheltered.
- The overall number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness increased by 3.4 percent since 2020.
- The number of individuals experiencing chronic homelessness increased by 15.6 percent, with a 32.4 percent increase in the number of chronic individuals in shelter and a 7.1 percent increase among people who are unsheltered.
- The overall number of individual adults experiencing homelessness (i.e., those not experiencing homelessness as a member of a family unit) increased by 3.1 percent.
Read the full article about learnings from the 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report at National Alliance to End Homelessness.