New federal figures released on Friday have confirmed a massive surge in homelessness, with numbers reaching the highest level on record since the government began recording homelessness figures in 2007.
In @JoeBiden's America, it's almost impossible to pay rent or afford a home.
Homeless nationwide just reached its highest reported level at 12%.
Nowhere in Arizona is this more obvious than @RubenGallego's district.
Ruben's negligence & rubberstamping of Biden's agenda let… pic.twitter.com/UknYL9xxEE
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 15, 2023
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates show that the number of homeless people in the U.S. surged 12% to more than 653,000 amid the end of pandemic spending.
These numbers “provide a snapshot of the number of people in shelters, temporary housing and in unsheltered settings,” according to Just The News.
The report showed that 653,100 individuals were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, equivalent to roughly 20 out of every 10,000 people in the United States. This 12% increase is about 70,650 more people than the figure released in 2022 and is the highest number of homeless people recorded since HUD’s count began in 2007.
When broken down, the figures show that the number of families with children experiencing homelessness increased by 16%, while the number of individuals experiencing homelessness increased by 11%.
There are numerous factors contributing to the increase in homelessness, including the rise in housing costs, the end of pandemic protections, the economic downturn, limited affordable housing, and a surge in illegal aliens taking up space in shelters in areas like New York City and Chicago.
The HUD report listed the states with the highest rate of homelessness as California, Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, and Nevada. The states with the lowest rates of homelessness were listed as Vermont, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin.
More than half of the United States’ homeless population are located in just four states: 28% or 181,399 people in California; 16% or 103,200 people in New York; 5% or 30,756 people in Florida; and 4% or 28,036 people in Washington state.
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge released a statement about the report, which read: “Homelessness is solvable and should not exist in the United States. We’ve made positive strides, but there is still more work to be done. This data underscores the urgent need for support for proven solutions and strategies that help people quickly exit homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place.”
