The United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials said Friday.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said federally required tallies taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless — a number that misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own.
That increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. The 2023 increase also was driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the U.S., with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population.
“No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed […]
Due to mental illness, my brother ran away from home while a teen, in 1967, from Washington State to California. He was missing for several months….ultimately found homeless in Haight Ashbury during the hippie era. Fortunately, due to being underage, he was sent home after being arrested. Those were the hardest times of my life, not knowing where my brother was! As a result, I always try to share when encountering someone in this situation. Its a travesty that America does not house her folks. I consistently vote for the more humanitarian party, but lately we seem to be “Squeezed out” by : WHAT??? WHO??? Shameful and shocking.
The homelessness problems we experience now are rooted in policy started in the Reagan administration, and carried on by Neo-liberal economic doctrine since. If the Democrats were capable of solving this problem over the past 40 years they would have done so. Don’t kid yourself, the system which created and has perpetuated these problems will not solve it. Think outside the box.