Homelessness has been increasing dramatically
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A shocking new report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shows that homelessness has increased dramatically from the start of Joe Biden’s term, yet another sign of the outgoing president’s remarkable track record of failure.
Since 2007, HUD has published data annually that provides an official estimate for homelessness. The data seeks to show how many people are homeless in America in January of each year, as well as provide researchers with a variety of demographic data and reports from on-the-ground sources about potential causes of homelessness.
In December, HUD reported that in January 2024, "771,480 people experienced homelessness in the United States." HUD notes that this is "the largest number since data collection began." (The first year of data provided in HUD’s report is 2007.)
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In 2023, HUD reported homelessness had reached 653,104, which was, at the time, the highest figure ever recorded.
HUD’s data shows homelessness was 580,466 at the start of 2020, Trump’s final year in office. (Due to COVID-19, the data for 2021 is incomplete.)
That means from 2020 to 2024, homelessness increased by more than 32%.
These figures become even more disconcerting when placed in their proper historical context. From 2013 to 2022, HUD’s estimates for homelessness never once surpassed 600,000.
Homelessness remained relatively stable for the eight years prior to Biden taking office, consistently ranging between 500,000 and 600,000.
HUD’s report notes that men and boys are more likely to be homeless than women. About six in ten homeless Americans are male.
Additionally, African Americans and white Americans are more likely to be homeless than other racial groups. About 31% of the homeless population is believed to be African American, and 38% of the homeless population is white.
These figures indicate that when accounting for differences in the total population sizes of various racial groups in the United States, African American men are much more likely to be homeless than other demographics.
There are numerous reasons why homelessness has increased under the Biden administration, and many of them are the direct result of policy decisions made by the outgoing president.
First, the cost of housing has risen at a breakneck pace under Biden. The Washington Post reports that from 2019 to 2024, monthly rent increased by 19 percent.
Similarly, the average sales price of a home sold in the United States increased from $396,900 in the fourth quarter of 2020 to $501,100 in the third quarter of 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s a 26% increase in just four years.
Although rent and home sales prices are impacted by numerous factors, the driving force behind the increases is the macro-level inflation crisis caused by the Biden administration’s unprecedented government spending and regulatory agenda.
Biden and congressional Democrats poured trillions of dollars into the economy during Biden’s term in office, keeping spending levels significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. The additional spending was largely the result of new debt that was not offset by new taxes. That means Biden, working closely with congressional Democrats, increased the money supply.
Increasing the money supply isn’t always a bad thing. But when you increase the money supply rapidly and consistently, as did Biden, and couple that increase with inflationary government programs and regulations that drive up costs, you run the risk of causing an inflation crisis.
That’s exactly what happened throughout much of the U.S. economy, including in the housing sector.
Adding more dollars to the economy without increasing housing at a similar rate caused housing and rent prices to rise quickly, along with prices of just about everything else.
When the cost of housing increases, homelessness often increases with it.
Housing costs aren’t the only explanation for the rise in homelessness, though. Another is the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security reported earlier this month that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has had since fiscal year 2021 more than 11 million encounters with immigrants illegally in the country.
This doesn’t include the millions of other people who have entered the United States illegally during the same period but weren’t caught by CBP.
This wave of immigration has been caused by the weak border and asylum-seeker policies put into place by the Biden administration. These policies and their associated rise in illegal immigration have put a tremendous amount of stress on local resources, including housing and shelters.
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In its report, HUD, an agency in Biden’s own administration, acknowledges that immigration has been one of the primary causes of the recent increase in homelessness. HUD says natural disasters have also caused homelessness to rise in some regions, particularly in Hawaii.
HUD’s study includes reports provided by local homelessness planning bodies called continuums of care (CoCs). HUD notes that "In 2024, many of the CoCs that reported the largest increases in sheltered homelessness, reported that they experienced an increase from people who were displaced from natural disasters or due to immigration. For example, in Hawaii, over 5,000 people were in disaster emergency shelter due to the Maui Fire. Another 13 CoCs indicated an increase due to an increase in immigrants or refugees seeking asylum."
The CoC for New York City told HUD that close to 88% of its increase in sheltered homelessness was due directly to a substantial rise in asylum seekers.
Homelessness has reached a crisis level in the United States, and Biden’s policies are largely to blame. His high regulations and reckless spending have driven up housing costs to unsustainable levels, and his immigration policies have overwhelmed many cities’ housing markets and homeless facilities.
To address these problems, President Trump must reduce government spending, roll back regulations, and fix America’s broken immigration system. He has promised to do just that, but governing is much harder than campaigning, as the incoming president knows well.
Justin Haskins is a New York Times bestselling author, senior fellow at The Heartland Institute, and the president of the Henry Dearborn Liberty Network.
