The Biden administration's "All In" program aims to reduce homelessness in the U.S. at least 25% by 2025.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development's annual2022 annual report found more than 582,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January last year.
Richard Cho, senior adviser for the department, said homelessness among certain subpopulations decreased in 2022, including 11% for veterans.
"But homelessness also rose for single individuals; those are adults who are not part of family or who don't have children with them," Cho reported. "It rose even higher for individuals who have disabilities who are long-term homeless; people who are chronically homeless. It rose actually 15%."
The federally required point-in-time counts began in 2005 to document, on a single winter night, typically in January, the number of people in a community who are unhoused. The report showed in 2022, rural areas saw the biggest geographic increase of homelessness, at 6%.
Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, is confident the federal government's "All In" strategic plan will offer a roadmap for getting people into housing, along with an income to allows them to thrive.
"In a country where roughly the same number of people become homeless and escape homelessness on a daily basis, "All In" aims to prevent homelessness before it happens," Olivet explained.
Cho noted the dramatic increase in rental costs across many parts of the U.S. He pointed out aid federal and state emergency rental assistance during the pandemic allowed more than 12 million people to pay their rent and avoid evictions, but added progress cannot continue without more permanent supportive housing.
"The decreases that we saw in chronic homelessness from 2010 to 2016," Cho emphasized. "Since 2016, the pace of new permanent supportive housing creation has slowed significantly."
