The United States last year experienced the largest decline in homelessness since an annual count began nearly two decades ago, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced late Friday.
The drop of more than 6 percent was the second consecutive year that the figure had fallen, and reduced the number of homeless people by more than 47,000. Homelessness still far exceeds prepandemic levels.
The reasons for the decline are contested, though the trend likely reflects in part the ebbing of a crisis that began in 2022 when a wave of people seeking asylumwere bused to Northern cities, where they flooded shelters. Most have since left.
The data comes from the annual point-in-time count, which hundreds of local groups conduct every January. While the housing department usually compiles the data into a detailed report before announcing it, the agency instead appeared to hurry a press release on Friday announcing the decline and crediting President Trump.
The department acted after learning that two nonprofit groups had tallied the data from many of the local groups and were releasing their own analyses during what has become a bitter policy debate. Both groups — the National Alliance to End Homelessness and Community Solutions — oppose sweeping changes the Trump administration is trying to make, and see the decline as evidence that progress is possible under current policies.
