CNA Staff, Dec 30, 2024 / 17:15 pm
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Friday released a report estimating that nearly 772,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States at the beginning of 2024, the highest number recorded since data collection began in 2007.
HUD’s figure, produced during an annual point-in-time count conducted in January 2024, represents an increase of 118,376 people and an 18% jump from the number of homeless people counted in 2023. About half of the people counted were in sheltered locations, such as homeless shelters or domestic violence houses, while half were in unsheltered locations.
More than half of people experiencing homelessness counted in the study were in one of the nation’s 50 largest cities. Almost 20% of the homeless individuals overall were experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness, HUD said.
A major factor in the rising number of homeless people in 2024, HUD reported, was migrants and people seeking asylum. For example, New York City saw a 53% increase in homelessness between 2023 and 2024, and an estimated nine out of every 10 new homeless people are asylum seekers, the report says. Experts cited by NPR said there is reason to believe that the number of homeless asylum seekers has likely dropped since HUD made its count due to new border security measures implemented last summer under President Joe Biden.
HUD also cited as a reason for growing homelessness a number of natural disasters that displaced people from their homes in 2023, including the Maui wildfires, which led to an estimated 87% increase in total homelessness in Hawaii between 2023 and 2024.
In addition, rising rents and a lack of affordable housing in some communities, as well as the end of pandemic-era protections like the roughly 17-month national eviction moratorium that began in March 2020, have led to increases in unsheltered homelessness, HUD says.
In 2024, more than 259,000 people in families with children were experiencing homelessness, the largest number since HUD’s data collection began. Nine in 10 people experiencing homelessness as families were in a sheltered situation.
At the same time, nearly 33,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness as of the count, six out of 10 of whom were sheltered while four out of 10 were unsheltered — a decrease in the unsheltered population in recent years.
As “EWTN News In Depth” detailed in a report earlier this year, Catholics are involved in efforts across the country to care for the homeless, including projects to provide emergency shelter as well as long-term affordable housing. Catholic parishes also run food banks, soup kitchens, and provide case management, spiritual support, and access to showers and laundry facilities. In 2022, Catholic Charities served more than 30 million meals and found almost 40,000 permanent housing units for unhoused people.
The U.S. Supreme Court last summer ruled in a pivotal case related to homelessness, City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Gloria Johnson, that cities can arrest or fine homeless individuals for camping in public spaces.
The decision reversed a circuit court ruling that had said fining and imprisoning homeless individuals for camping in public spaces qualified as cruel and unusual punishment for an involuntary condition, something prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Catholic bishops, Archbishop Borys Gudziak, head of the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said following the ruling that the court’s decision amounts to “criminalizing” homelessness and will only worsen the crisis. The U.S. bishops had filed an amicus brief in the case, arguing against Grants Pass’ ability to fine and imprison homeless individuals.
“Instead of punishing the most vulnerable among us, [the] government should help provide shelter and economic and social programs that uphold and enhance the dignity of homeless persons,” Gudziak said. “Such action would offer real opportunities for a better life and to remedy the deeper causes of homelessness.”
