Contact: Libby Miller | lmiller@naeh.org | 202-942-8252
National Alliance to End Homelessness CEO Ann Oliva Weighs In on New Data
December 15, 2023, Washington, D.C. — Homelessness is again on the rise. For the seventh year in a row of reporting, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report shows an overall increase in people experiencing homelessness. For those on the frontlines of this crisis, it’s not surprising. People across the country are struggling to pay skyrocketing rents. Vital pandemic safety net programs have or will soon be expired, threatening people’s ability to secure and maintain permanent housing. And while the homeless services workforce is working as hard as possible to provide aid and expand the resources available to vulnerable people, these efforts are unable to keep up with the 30 percent growth in new people entering homelessness between 2020 and 2022. On average, 17,000 new people entered homelessness per week in 2022.
Homelessness impacts every community in this nation. Fortunately, there are solutions that are proven to work if they are appropriately funded. That includes making urgent and overdue investments in affordable housing and rental assistance to keep people housed, as well as in proven housing and supportive service models that rapidly reconnect people experiencing homelessness with permanent housing. We need sustained investment in evidence-based approaches at the federal and state levels to reverse course nationally.
Every American deserves the safety of a stable home. Now is the time for our federal, state, and local leaders to commit to that vision.
Read the Alliance’s Blog Post:
About the National Alliance to End Homelessness
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit, non-partisan, organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. As a leading voice on the issue of homelessness, the Alliance analyzes policy and develops pragmatic, cost-effective policy solutions; works collaboratively with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to build state and local capacity; and provides data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform policy debates and educate the public and opinion leaders nationwide.
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