Important Takeaways:

• US homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and coronavirus pandemic aid lapses
• The United States experienced a dramatic 12% increase in homelessness to its highest reported level as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, federal officials said Friday.
• About 653,000 people were homeless, the most since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007. The total in the January count represents an increase of about 70,650 from a year earlier.
• The latest estimate indicates that people becoming homeless for the first time were behind much of the increase.
• Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a federal agency, said “The most significant causes are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing that have left many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and one crisis away from homelessness,” Olivet said.
• Within the overall rise, homelessness among individuals rose by nearly 11%, among veterans by 7.4% and among families with children by 15.5%.

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