Some may disagree, but in my opinion the rate of homelessness reflects economic factors. The state California currently has the highest homeless population, with about. This number represents 27.89% of the total homeless population in the U.S. (As of 2023, California contains 11.4% of the country's population) It's estimated there are 161,548 people in the state officially considered "homeless" (though there may be two or three times that number in very unstable housing situations, for example sleeping on the couch of a friend). The state with the fastest growing homeless population is Hawaii. Between 2007 and 2016, Hawaii saw a 30.5% increase in homelessness. Between 2020 and 2022, California's homeless population increased by 6%. U.S. Homeless Count Surges 12% to Highest-Recorded Level, The Wall Street Journal, Jon Kamp, Shannon Najmabadi, December 15, 2023 About 653,000 people were homeless, the most since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007. The total in the January count represents an increase of about 70,650 from a year earlier. The latest estimate indicates that people becoming homeless for the first time were behind much of the increase. "The most significant causes are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing that have left many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and one crisis away from homelessness," said Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Within the overall rise, homelessness among individuals rose by nearly 11%, among veterans by 7.4% and among families with children by 15.5%. Blacks make up about 13% of the U.S. population but comprised 37% of all people experiencing homelessness. More than a quarter of the adults experiencing homelessness were over age 54. More than half the people experiencing homelessness in the country were in four states: California, New York, Florida and Washington. Oahu Sees Alarming Increase In Number Of Homeless Seniors, Honolulu Civil Beat, Jessica Terrell, May 11, 2023 Roughly 1 in 5 people experiencing homelessness on Oahu this January were over the age of 60 -- a staggering increase from previous years that could present challenges for a homeless care system not designed to meet the needs of seniors. (Oahu is Hawaii's most populated island)
states with the biggest increase in their unhoused population over the last year: New York: 29,022 rise in people experiencing homelessness, or a 39.1% increase. Colorado: 4,042, or a 38.9% increase. Massachusetts: 3,634, or a 23.4% jump. Florida: 4,797, or a 18.5% jump. California: 9,878, or a 5.8% increase Homelessness in America reached a new record earlier this year partly due to a "sharp rise" in the number of people who became homeless for the first time, federal officials said Friday. More than 650,000 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January, a 12% jump from 2022, the report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found. That's the highest number since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007 to count the homeless population. Homelessness in America reaches record level amid rising rents and end of COVID aid, CBS News, Aimee Picchi, December 15, 2023
Does anyone notice how almost every single one of them is a blue state? There's probably a reason for it but it's really hard to put a finger on it....
High-density population areas, higher levels of immigration from other countries, suppressing wage levels a little bit (from what they would otherwise be in those higher cost areas) and putting pressure on the supply of affordable housing. Something else a lot of people may not realize this that there's a big difference between "city areas" in these blue states versus most red states. In a typical red state, there will be a big city area with a downtown, sure, but only 20 or 25 minutes outside the core of that city you will find rural area with lots of open space. In a blue state, this is not what it is like. You might have to go 45 minutes to an hour away before housing prices start coming down much. More than that if you want to reach an area with lots of open land that isn't too expensive. I don't want to overgeneralize too much because I think there are two or three different categories of red states. There are Mountain West red states like Utah and Idaho, Midwest red states, Central East red states like Kentucky and Indiana, Deep South red states, and then you have Florida and Texas, which are both sort of borderline "South" in culture but also had a lot of Midwest influence, both have been experiencing tremendous economic and population growth, in contrast to decline in older economic powerhouses like New York and the Rust Belt.
