The U.S. federal government announced that the number of homeless people nationwide surged by 12% year-on-year, an increase of more than 70,000 in real terms from the same period last year, and the total exceeded 6530,000 people, both the number and the increase are the highest since the statistics began in 2007.
Reduced or terminated funding in the United States** during the pandemic due to significant housing prices and rents** has left more vulnerable people unable to afford housing and forced to live in shelters or on the streets.
The United States said on the 15th that the rise in the number of homeless people involves many factors, including housing costs**, insufficient affordable housing, the flood of opium painkillers, etc., and the expiration of the prohibition on evictions during the epidemic has also made it easier for owners to evict tenants.
In January, for example, the number of people sleeping on the streets and in shelters has risen, a phenomenon linked to a sharp increase in first-time homeless people and a reversal of a downward trend in the United States since 2012.
Federal Housing Minister Faci said there was an "urgent need" to address the situation and help vulnerable people get out of their predicament as soon as possible and not end up on the streets.
Regionally, more than half of the country's homelessness is concentrated in California, New York, Florida and Washington, with California accounting for 28 percent of the national total, while nationally, homelessness has increased in 41 states and Washington, D.C., and only nine states have decreased.
In terms of growth, New York is the most staggering, with year-on-year growth more than three times the national figure, with other leading states including New Mexico, Colorado and New Hampshire.
Among all categories of homelessness, the number of single people increased by nearly 11%;Veterans increased by 74%；Families with children increased by 155%；Young people under the age of 24 account for 22% of the total.
In terms of ethnicity, African-Americans make up only 13 percent of the country's population but account for 37 percent of the country's homeless population, while Hispanics make up 19 percent of the country's population and make up 33 percent of the country's homeless population.
The United States** said that high rents have posed a great challenge, with rents rising more than twice as much last year as in recent years, and that it is providing funds and housing vouchers to charitable organizations, and has also tried to help the homeless move into permanent housing in the past two years, hoping to alleviate the problem.
Among the areas where the number of homeless people is declining, the number of people in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is down 49% from 2022;Dallas, Texas decreased by 38%；Newark and Essex counties in New Jersey saw a decrease of 167%。