United States saw an 18% increase in homelessness this year as affordable houses remains unavailable, accompanied by stagnant wages and inflation.
Federal officials of United States said that this rise in homelessness is also due to a surge of migrants in different parts of the country as well as due to devastating natural disasters like the Maui fire last year that caused more than 5,200 people to live in Hawaii’s emergency shelters.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development stated that the country had over 770,000 people homeless in the beginning of the year, excluding those living with their friends or family as they do not have a house of their own.
The Housing and Urban Department (HUD) stated that the increase is 12% more than that in 2023 and blamed it on the high rents after the end of pandemic.
Black people outnumbered others among the homeless population and the number represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the United States.
With the arrival of migrants in big cities like Denver, Chicago, and New York City, family homelessness doubles in 13 communities, with nearly 150,000 children experiencing homelessness, showing a 33% jump from the previous year.
Communities in several states, put ban on camping as the public called it dangerous and unsanitary living conditions while homeless advocates argued that punishing people who are camping to have a place to sleep is criminalizing homelessness.
Supreme Court of the United States found that outdoor sleeping bans don’t violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution that prohibits excessive bail, fines, and cruel punishments.
Some large cities like Dallas, and Los Angeles managed to lower the homeless count by increasing housing for them between 2022 – 2024 while California remains the city with largest homeless count, followed by New York, Washington, and Florida.
