HUD Reports Decrease in Chronic Homelessness, Increase in Family Homelessness in 2010

On June 14, HUD released its 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR), a yearly study designed to measure the scope of homelessness across the country. The 2010 AHAR measures homelessness from October 2009 through September 2010 and finds that, in spite of the recession, the number of homeless individuals increased by less than 1 percent, from 404,957 in 2009 to 407,966 in 2010. According to the report, more than 1.59 million people spent at least one night in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program during 2010, a 2.2 percent increase from 2009.

On a single night in January 2010, when a point-in-time count was conducted, 649,917 people were homeless, an increase of 1.1 percent from 2009. While the sheltered homeless count remained the same, the number of unsheltered homeless increased by 2.8 percent from 2009 to 2010. 

From 2009 to 2010, chronic, or long-term homelessness, decreased by 1 percent from 110,917 to 109,920 people; this number is down 11 percent since 2007. HUD attributes at least some of the decline in the number of those chronically homeless to the 34 percent increase in permanent supportive housing (PSH) from 2007 to 2010. Almost 295,000 people used PSH during the latest reporting period.

From 2009 to 2010, the number of homeless families increased by 1.2 percent and from 2007 to 2010, the number of homeless persons in families increased by 20 percent. The report states that “families currently represent a much larger share of the total sheltered population than ever before…with the majority of homeless families consisting of a single mother with young children.”

The 2010 AHAR reports a downward trend over the last four years of the use of shelters in cities and an upward trend of shelter use in suburban and rural areas. Although the majority of people experiencing homelessness is still in large cities, the annual number of people using homeless shelters decreased 17 percent in cities and increased 57 percent in suburban and rural areas.

The 2010 AHAR also reports on the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP), a $1.5 billion program included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. HPRP provided assistance to very low-income households, those earning 50 percent of area median income (AMI) or less, at risk of homelessness and homeless assistance to those already homeless. More than 690,000 people received assistance during HPRP's first year, with 77 percent receiving homelessness prevention assistance and the remaining 23 percent receiving homeless assistance.