HUD Report Demonstrates Incompetency of Federal Homelessness Program

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Issue Areas

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its Annual Homelessness Assessment Report just after Christmas—when they likely thought no one would notice. The news is terrible, as indicated by the report’s first line, “The number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 was the highest ever recorded.” It’s hard to ignore a report with numbers that are this shocking, even if they’re released when they thought nobody would notice.

Not only were 771,480 people counted as homeless in the 2024 Point-In-Time Count—as compared to 653,104 in 2023—but every population except veterans reached record-high levels. Overall, the increase in homelessness was 18 percent over 2023’s count and up 21 percent since 2010.

Other key statistics include:

• Unsheltered homelessness up 7 percent since last year and 17 percent since 2010.
• Family homelessness up 39 percent since last year and 1 percent since 2010.
• Chronic homelessness up 6 percent since last year and 44 percent since 2010.
• Youth homelessness up 27 percent since last year but down 2 percent since 2017, when it was first measured.

The federal government has spent $36.6 billion since 2005 to assist communities in addressing homelessness. The national homelessness count of 2005 was 763,010, a mere 8,470 individuals fewer than 2024’s record-setting estimate of 771,480. By any metric, the federal government’s efforts to get people housed and reduce the number of people on the street are a failure.

The year-over-year increases in homelessness funding and in the number of people experiencing homelessness demonstrate the significant incompetence of HUD and the Continuum of Care Program.  That program, created in 2009, requires communities to adopt an approach to homelessness based on the provision of subsidized housing and the prohibition of required participation in treatment for addictions, workforce training, or simple activities such as chores.

This approach, called Housing First, was met with quick opposition from community groups that stressed sobriety, work, and treatment. They argue that Housing First would result in two things: nonprofits abandoning their effective models of rehabilitation to chase lucrative government grants and the creation of government-funded housing filled with drug users. Both have come to pass.

Now, communities are struggling with not knowing where public money meant to reduce homelessness goes and what it accomplishes. They struggle with increased drug use, untreated mental illness, crime, and destitution–particularly around homeless shelters and housing. Innovative programs that seek to address homelessness through requirements and performance measures are shut out of funding.

Remarkably, HUD has known of the lack of performance and positive outcomes as they published yearly reports demonstrating increases in homelessness. Three cycles ago, they blamed increased homelessness on COVID. Last year, they blamed it on expiring COVID subsidies. This year, they blamed it on immigration.

The Biden Administration’s oversight of homeless policy saw a 33 percent increase in homelessness. Yet, HUD and its defenders in Congress blindly continue to follow the same failed playbook. Without reforms, more communities will see continued increases in human misery while non-performing governments and nonprofits get fat on millions of dollars in federal funding. This must stop. This latest HUD report on homelessness is an indictment of the current policies that prioritize the provision of housing as a means to end homelessness. While housing is an important component, it must be combined with treatment and/or workforce training, accountability in outcomes, and ending camping in public spaces. Spending and performance must be made transparent so that accountability can occur. The freedom to pursue innovative and new ideas must be unleashed so that we know what works to reduce the number of people living unhoused on the street.