On a single night in January each year, planning agencies called "Continuums of Care," along with tens of thousands of volunteers, seek to identify the number of individuals and families living in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, and in unsheltered settings across the country.
The findings, released in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress is based on data reported by approximately 3,000 cities and counties across the nation.
Key Findings:
567,715 people were homeless, representing an overall 2.7 percent increase from 2018 but a nearly 11 percent decline since 2010.
37,085 Veterans were reported as homeless, a decline of 2.1 percent from 2018 and 50 percent since 2010.
53,692 families with children experienced homelessness last January, down nearly 5 percent from 2018 and more than 32 percent since 2010.
The estimated number of persons experiencing long-term, chronic homelessness increased 8.5 percent between 2018 and 2019. This increase was concentrated on the West Coast, with the largest increases in California. The number of unaccompanied homeless youth and children in 2019 is estimated to be 35,038, a 3.6 percent decline since 2018.
In Virginia, 6.8 in every 10,000 people were experiencing homelessness with a total number of 5,783.
To view the full report, click here.