U.S. Homelessness Spiked by Jaw-Dropping Amount in 2024

There are some troubling developments within this data. For one, Black Americans are sorely overrepresented, making up just 12 percent of the country but 32 percent of the homeless population. Family homelessness also spiked by nearly 40 percent, particularly in cities that saw larger waves of migrants, like Denver, Chicago, and New York City. Almost 150,000 children were homeless on any given night in 2024, a shocking 33 percent increase from 2023. And the destructive Maui wildfire left over 5,000 in homeless shelters. 

This is a damning development for a country that boasts to be the greatest on earth. And it comes as communities large and small, liberal and conservative, grow more and more hostile towards their homeless neighbors, many of whom are already battling with mental illness. The Supreme Court ruling that allowed cities to ban sleeping outside has empowered classic liberal strongholds like San Francisco and Portland to start clearing homeless encampments, as they simply move the problem somewhere else rather than solve it. 

“Increased homelessness is the tragic, yet predictable, consequence of underinvesting in the resources and protections that help people find and maintain safe, affordable housing,” said Renee Willis, incoming interim CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “As advocates, researchers, and people with lived experience have warned, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to increase as more people struggle to afford sky-high housing costs.”