Despite the severe economic downturn, persistent unemployment, and thousands of foreclosures, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Shaun Donovan announced that the number of homeless people in the U.S. held relatively steady between 2009 and 2010.  While overall numbers were up slightly, the numbers of chronically homeless decreased 1 percent, from 110,917 to 109,920.  This and other data on homelessness are contained in the 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR) released by HUD on Tuesday.

At a press conference attending the release, Donovan stated "It's clear that had it not been for President Obama's Recovery Act, many hundreds of thousands of persons may have fallen into homelessness or remained there.  During the height of our nation's economic hardship, we've managed to stabilize and even prevent homelessness as we work to find permanent housing solutions for the most vulnerable among us."

Data on the numbers of homeless are collected through a count of the numbers of persons who are in shelters or "unsheltered" on a single night in February and a 12 month count of persons who access a shelter over the course of a full year.  Data was collected from over 4,700 cities and counties during 2010. 

The "snapshot" survey found the numbers of persons homeless on that single night increased by 1.1 percent over the 2009 count to 649,879.  This included 29,344 family households and 241,621 persons in families, both slight (1.6 percent or less) increases year-over-year.  Three states, California, New York, and Florida accounted for 40 percent of the homeless on this night.  

The 12 month count found that 1.6 million persons experienced homelessness and found shelter in a one year period ending September 30, 2010, a 2.2 percent increase over 2009.

Single homeless individuals tend to be white men over the age of 30 with a disabling condition, while adults in families are more likely to be younger African-American women without a reported disability. Of all those who sought emergency shelter or transitional housing during 2010, the following characteristics were observed: 

  • 78 percent of all sheltered homeless persons are adults.
  • 62 percent are male.
  • 58 percent are members of a minority group.
  • 37 percent are 31-to-50 years old.
  • 63 percent are in one-person households.
  • 37 percent have a disability. 

Donovan highlighted two programs that have helped stabilized the homeless population.  The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program served 690,000 people during its first year of operation including 531,000 individuals who were prevented from becoming homeless in the first place.  The remaining 159,000 received "rapid re-housing" assistance to move from the streets or shelters into permanent housing.  Fifty-nine percent of HPRP participants received assistance for two months or less with those receiving homelessness prevention assistance requiring a slightly longer participation than those receiving rapid re-housing assistance.

The second program is the Permanent Supportive Housing Program (PSH) which combines shelter solutions with other services such as health care, employment, or addiction treatment.   PSH beds are now the largest part of the nation's homeless housing inventory with 236,798 beds 23 percent of which are specifically targeted for the chronically homeless.  Nearly 295,000 people used PSH at some point between October 2009 and September 2010. Compared to the sheltered homeless population, PSH tenants are more likely to be female, part of a family, living in an urban area, and African-American. Adult PSH tenants are also more than twice as likely as adults in shelters to have a disabling condition (79 percent versus 37 percent.)

Donovan said that there are two trends that are notable in the new survey.  The first is a continued decline in the chronically homeless.  The numbers of this group have declined 11 percent in three years largely due to a focus on the problem among local groups.  At the same time there has been an increase among families and in rural and suburban areas.  Donovan said one reason for the rise in the rural homelessness is the number of military personal who come from rural areas and return there and experience homelessness.  Veterans, he said, are 50 percent more likely to become homeless than the general population.  A separate assessment on veterans' homelessness will be issued in the next few months.

The Secretary said the increase in homeless families is not surprising given the economy and the history of homeless programs where local efforts have been targeted at chronic homelessness so those tools are further advanced.  The local areas are not as far along dealing with families but are catching up.

Barbara Poppe, chairperson of the Interagency Council on Homelessness pointed out that family homelessness is more complex because it requires a higher level of interagency cooperation to address supportive services such as child care, child health, and education.  

The report says the long-term impacts of the recession are unclear. A recent study found a nearly five-fold increase in the rate of housing overcrowding, suggesting that many families are doubling up in response to the economic downturn.   If some of these family support networks already are struggling to make ends meet, some of the doubled-up families may find their way into the homeless residential service system during 2010. 

HUD will use the findings from the 2010 AHAR to continue to work to end all homelessness through the Obama Administration's initiative Opening Doors, a federal strategy to end veteran and chronic homelessness by 2015, and to end homelessness among children, families, and youth by 2020.