The Biden administration released a new report Friday showing that homelessness in America increased by 18% in 2024, partially attributing the spike to the huge influx of immigrants settling in the country.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published its January 2024 Point-In-Time Count Report on Friday, finding that 770,000 people were homeless across the U.S. on a single night in January 2024, up 18.1% from the same point a year prior. While HUD states that its report “reflects data collected a year ago and likely does not represent current circumstances,” the agency did explicitly blame the immigration crisis as one reason for the rise in homelessness.
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“Some communities reported data to HUD that indicated that the rise in overall homelessness was a result of their work to shelter a rising number of asylum seekers coming into their communities,” HUD stated in a summary of its report. “Importantly, this reporting was collected prior to the Biden-Harris Administration taking executive action to secure our border, after Congressional Republicans blocked a bipartisan Senate bill that would have provided needed resources and authorities to help reduce irregular migration.”
Since fiscal year 2021, law enforcement has recorded more than 10 million migrant encounters, with millions of migrants suspected of entering the country without being apprehended or detected by law enforcement, according to the House Committee on Homeland Security. Economists previously explained to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the immigration surge is driving up housing costs and rents by introducing even more demand for supply that is not growing fast enough, particularly in border regions or urban areas that have absorbed large numbers of migrants.
“Migration had a particularly notable impact on family homelessness, which rose 39% from 2023-2024. In the 13 communities that reported being affected by migration, family homelessness more than doubled,” HUD added in its summary. “Whereas in the remaining 373 communities, the rise in families experiencing homelessness was less than 8%.”
While HUD’s numbers show a major increase in overall homelessness, observed levels of homelessness among veterans reached its lowest levels on record, dropping by about 8% relative to the prior year’s numbers.
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