President Trump recently signed an executive decree on homelessness, mental health and consumption of substances that take advantage of federal financing priorities and other administrative tools to encourage states to prohibit consumption of public drugs, to withdraw non-sumptuous people from public spaces and to broaden civilian engagement laws to allow involuntary civilian civilian commitments in more circumstances. The Trump administration also invoked the law on the rules of the domicile to place the DC police forces under federal control and deployed the National Guard to eliminate homeless camps in the city and approach crime. These actions follow the adoption at the national level of the laws of the states supported by the court, which facilitates the ticket forces, fine or to arrest people sleeping on public property.
According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), more than 770,000 people knew homelessness in one night in January 2024, the highest registered. The links between homelessness and health are complex, and KFF’s past research has revealed that people with previous experiences of homelessness have disproportionate physical and mental health needs and are faced with greater socio-economic challenges compared to those who have never experienced roaming. The homeless people who are not shortened also experience chronic roaming, chronic diseases, mental illnesses and drug addiction than those sheltered.
These data notes examine the roaming trends and the characteristics of homeless people using data in the number of intimate points (PIT) of HUD of sheltered and no longer erected people who know homelessness. The stands are generally carried out a single night in the last ten days of January. These estimates can underestimate the total number of people who suffer from homelessness, especially among the expanses.
1. From 2018 to 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness in a single night increased by almost 40% to more than 771,000 people, with almost four out of ten (36%) staying in unknown places.
The HUD PIT survey counts people who experience homeless in sheltered parameters and not sheltered in a single night. People are considered non -networks if they sleep in places that are not usually used as an ordinary sleeping accommodation, such as cars, parks, abandoned buildings or campsite. The rest of the people who experience homeless were in sheltered places, with almost six out of ten (56%) staying in emergency shelters and almost one in ten (9%) in transitional accommodation, which is temporary accommodation with support services (Figure 1). Between 2018 and 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness increased by almost 40%. This increase was mainly motivated by the growth in the number of people staying in emergency shelters and knowing the unbredged homelessness, while the number of people in transitional housing decreased during the same period. Almost half of the overall increase occurred between 2023 and 2024, during which the total number of people who reached roaming increased by 18%. According to HUD, the increase in housing costs and the end of the COVVI-19 public health emergency in May 2023, which ended the expulsion moratorium and other net revenue and security programs, led these recent increases.
Beyond the changes in the homeless and no longer prolonged roaming, the number of people with “chronic homeless” – defined by HUD as long -term homeless or repeated among people with disabilities – increased by 73% between 2018 and 2024 (from around 97,000 to 168,000). However, the number of adults suffering from homeless who were veterans fell from 13% from 2018 to 2024, representing 5% of all adults who know homelessness in 2024, similar to their share of the general adult population (6%). An increase in housing assistance programs in the Veterans Department (VA) in recent years has probably caused this decrease.
2. In 2024, more than eight people out of ten (81%) suffering from homeless were adults, but the number of children who suffered the roaming increased duplicating the rate of adults.
A single night in January 2024, there were more than 623,000 adults and 148,000 children with homelessness, adults constantly representing about eight of all homeless people since 2018 (Figure 2). However, from 2023 to 2024, the number of children with homelessness increased by 33% (from around 112,000 to 148,000), double the increase in percentage in adults, which increased by 15% (from around 541,000 to 623,000). Most households with children who suffer from homelessness are sheltered, because children constituted less than one in ten in 2024. The insecurity of housing during childhood is associated with negative results on health later in life, especially anxiety and depression. Adults also represented an increasing share of the number of people with homeless people, the share of people with homelessness aged 55 and over, increasing by 6% from 2023 to 2024. Research has revealed that this aging population of older adults has constituted a disproportionate part of single adults suffering from homeless.
3. In 2024, the southern and western states had higher shares of people who knew the homeless who were not discussed compared to other parts of the country.
Northeast and western states had higher rates of people with homelessness for 10,000 people than a single night in January 2024 (Figure 3). The share of people who have undergone homelessness who were not abbreviated by the state were highest in the southern and western states, especially in California (66%), Oregon (62%), Alabama (59%) and Florida (54%). On the other hand, the actions of people who knew the homeless who were not abbreviated were the lowest in New York (4%) and in Vermont (5%), despite these states with relatively high rates of people who are homeless for 10,000 people. These models can reflect a combination of local factors, including the climate, housing costs, shelter capacity, the right to shelters and police who bring more people in emergency shelters.
4. In 2024, around seven in ten people (68%) suffering from homeless were people of color.
White people (32%), Hispanic (31%) and black (30%) each represented about three people out of ten experiencing homelessness in a single night in January 2024, with other racial and ethnic groups composing smaller shares (less than 5%) (Figure 4). The black, Hispanic, AIAN and NHPI inhabitants constituted a disproportionate part of the homeless people compared to their share of the total population.
5. In 2024, adults suffering from roaming were more likely to have a serious mental illness (SMI), a disorder of substances’ consumption (South) and HIV / AIDS than the general population.
In 2024, more than two adults out of ten (22% or 140,000) knowing homeless in one night in January met the definition of HUD SMI, against around 5 to 6% of adults overall according to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) (Figure 5). A similar part (18%, or 113,000) of adults has been identified as a chronic substance consumption disorder (South) according to HUD definition in the punctual count, against around 3% of adults in the general population who met NSDUH criteria for the severe South. These actions are also higher in adults with non-stock market-free homelessness, the share of those with a chronic south increasing in recent years. SMI and South often co -occupying – on a quarter of SMI people also have a south – but the data accessible to the HUD public does not indicate the overlap of these conditions. About 2% (11,000) of adults with homelessness had HIV / AIDS, compared to less than 1% of the general population living with HIV. Recent changes from the Ryan White program under the Trump administration can reduce federal funding and access to healthcare, processing and support services for living people.
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