homelessnews

Data collected and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal from more than 250 homeless organizations have counted at least 550,000 homeless people so far, a 10 percent rise from last year’s reports. The numbers gathered from cities and rural areas show homelessness as it was on a single night earlier this year.

The upward trend means that the US will probably reach and pass the 2023 estimate of 653,000 homeless people. It’s the highest number since the government began sharing such data in 2007.

The final estimate of the number of unhoused people will depend on data not yet reported from areas such as New York City, which had the highest population of any city in 2023.

Utahns experiencing homelessness died at 10 times the rate of the state’s general population in 2023 and were, on average, 16 years younger at their time of death, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services announced in its first-ever homeless mortality report.

Officials identified at least 216 people who died while experiencing homelessness last year, and found their mean age was 56. More than a third of those deaths were caused by substance misuse, compared to just 5% of the general population. Another third died because of chronic disease, compared to nearly 60% of the general population.

Local governments can no longer allow people to sleep in streets, public buildings or public rights of way

Opponents of the case, however, fear that the Supreme Court’s ruling could open the floodgates for jurisdictions cracking down on homeless populations. “If the Supreme Court were to allow for such a punitive regime, then we’re going to have a race to the bottom to make it as uncomfortable as possible for people to survive,” John Do, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Northern California, told Rolling Stone in March.

The 2024 Point-in-Time Homelessness Count found 7,906 people experiencing homelessness in Southern Nevada as of Jan. 25, a 17% increase over last year. It follows an upward trend in the region every year since 2021, when 5,083 homeless were counted.

The report is completed annually with the help of volunteers who spend a morning surveying public areas to count sheltered and unsheltered homeless people. It is part of a nationwide initiative "aimed at understanding the extent of homelessness across the United States" and must be completed during the last ten days of January as required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the county said in a press release.

Last year, 6,566 homeless individuals were identified in Southern Nevada, with 60% of them — or, 3,912 — unsheltered and 2,654 people in emergency shelters or transitional housing.

The cost of living crisis and the housing crisis in the UK means more people are facing homelessness. It’s an issue that should remain at the forefront of our minds as a society, not just when World Homeless Day comes around on 10 October every year.

Despite living in the world’s sixth biggest economy, people are still living with no place to call their home in this country, whether it be sleeping rough, sofa surfing or any other type of homelessness. This injustice must end.