More Americans were homeless this year compared to 2023, as families continued struggling to afford rent and other basic necessities, federal officials announced Friday.
Across the U.S., more than 771,800 people lived without housing in 2024, according to a count conducted annually taken on a single night in January. The number for January 2024 is 18.1% higher than in 2023, when officials counted about 650,000 people living in homeless shelters, parks, and streets. In 2022, the population of people experiencing homelessness was around 580,000.
“The numbers are just mind-boggling to me,” Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, told USA TODAY.
How many people are homeless in California?
In January 2024, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that approximately 187,00 people were experiencing homelessness in California, a 3% increase from the previous year. California accounts for about 25% of the nation’s homeless population and has the highest number of unhoused people in the nation,…