A Slight Decrease in Homelessness in New York State

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released its 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1 to Congress. The report found that 580,466 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in January of 2020, an increase of 12,751 people, or 2.2 percent, from January of 2019. In New York State, 91,271 people experienced homelessness in the United States on a single night in January of 2020, a decrease of 820 people, or 0.9 percent, from January of 2019.

HUD releases the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress in two parts. Part 1 provides Point-in-Time Count estimates, offering a snapshot of homelessness—both sheltered and unsheltered—on a single night. The one-night counts are conducted during the last 10 days of January each year. The PIT counts also provide an estimate of the number of people experiencing homelessness within particular homeless populations such as individuals with chronic patterns of homelessness and veterans experiencing homelessness.

NY State Key Findings from HUD’s 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report Part 1: On a single night in January 2020, 91,271 people – about 46.9 of every 10,000 people in the State of New York – experienced homelessness. This represents a 0.9 percent decrease from January of 2019.  Unsheltered homelessness: 4,557 people, an increase of 12.60 percent from 2019.  Sheltered homelessness: 86,714 people, a decrease of 1.51 percent from 2019.  Individual homelessness: 43,283 people, an increase of 2.78 percent from 2019.  Family homelessness: 47,988 families, a decrease of 3.98 percent from 2019.  Chronic homelessness: 7,515 people, an increase of 3.96 percent from 2019.  Veteran homelessness: 1,251 homeless veterans, a decrease of 1.50 percent from 2019.  Unaccompanied youth homelessness: 3,072 unaccompanied youth, an increase of 3.16 percent from 2019.