While the latest figures from the office of Department of Housing and Urban Development show that homelessness has declined by three percent in the U.S. overall, it has also increased in 15 states, especially those in the West.
California had the dubious honor of hosting America's largest homeless population—its count (118,142 people) was up 2 percent from 2015 to 2016. Washington, DC, saw the highest year-to-year increase (more than 14 percent), and was followed closely by Idaho. Of the 15 states that saw increases in homelessness, eight were in the West: Washington state gained more than 7 percent and Colorado 6 percent. Hawaii had a 4 percent increase.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that with this report, the U.S. has seen homelessness drop again for the seventh year.
The new figures, released Thursday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in its annual report to Congress, mark the seventh consecutive year that homelessness has declined nationally. Sixty-eight percent of the affected people were staying in transitional housing and emergency shelters. The number experiencing chronic homelessness, defined as people with a disability who have been consistently homeless for at least a year, dropped 7 percent from 2015 to 2016—and 35 percent since 2007.
President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t gotten around to discussing his cabinet pick for HUD, but the current secretary is hoping the policies that have cut away at the problem will continue.
[HUD secretary Julian] Castro told reporters he hoped the incoming administration would retain, or expand, current programs. He pointed to a 47 percent decline in homelessness among veterans since 2010—that's when President Barack Obama launched the Opening Doors initiative, an effort to wipe out veteran, chronic, and family homelessness.