Rise in Homelessness Coincides with Winding Down of Pandemic-Era Supports
HUD has released new data showing that over 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023. This reflects a 12 percent increase over 2022 and is the highest number of people reported as experiencing homelessness on a single night since the national reporting on the point-in-time count began in 2007.
The rise in homelessness at the beginning of 2023 continued a pre-pandemic trend from 2016 to 2020. The 2021 American Rescue Plan provided the single-largest investment in addressing homelessness in U.S. history. As a result, between 2020 and 2022, the rise in homelessness that had begun in 2017 was halted. Now that many of the investments are winding down and ending, homelessness rates are rising again.
CLPHA is alarmed by this increase in homelessness, though it is not surprising given the discontinuation of crucial investments and supports for vulnerable populations offered by the American Rescue Plan. The success of these supports demonstrated that homelessness is not only resolvable, it is a policy choice. CLPHA and its industry partners have repeatedly called for consistent and dedicated investments in housing programs and social supports to address the affordable housing crisis and reduce homelessness. Most recently we sent a letter to Congressional appropriators asking them to accept, at a minimum, Senate-proposed public housing funding levels and reject the House’s proposal that would reduce PHAs’ abilities to house the most vulnerable individuals in their communities.
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