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Concept
Homelessness in the United States
Summary
In the United States, the number of homeless people varies from different federal government accounts. In 2014, approximately 1.5 million sheltered homeless people were counted. In 2018, the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated roughly 553,000 homeless people in the United States on a given night, or 0.17 percent of the population. Approximately 65 percent of people were sheltered in provided housing while 35 percent were unsheltered. Annual federal HUD reports contradict private state and local reports where homelessness is shown to have increased each year since 2014 across several major American cities, with 40 percent increases noted in 2017 and in 2019.
Historically, homelessness emerged as a national issue in the 1870s. Early homeless people lived in emerging urban cities, such as New York City. Into the 20th century, the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a substantial rise in unemployment and related social issues, distress, and homelessness. In 1990, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the homeless population of the country to be 228,621 (or 0.09% of the 248,709,873 enumerated in the 1990 U.S. census) which homelessness advocates criticized as an undercount. In the 21st century, the Great Recession of the late 2000s and the resulting economic stagnation and downturn have been major driving factors and contributors to rising homelessness rates.
The causes of homelessness are a combination or variation of socioeconomic, interpersonal, and individual factors. Interpersonal relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners, increased housing prices (high rent, high mortgages, lack of affordable housing), as well as eviction rates contribute to the state of homeless people. Although mental illness and addiction are risk factors associated with homelessness, a 2022 study found that differences in per capita homelessness rates across the country are not explained by varying rates of mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty, but rather by differences in the cost of housing.
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