Snapshot of Homelessness

Homelessness occurs when people or households are unable to acquire and/or maintain housing they can afford.

The Big Picture
While circumstances can vary, the main reason people experience homelessness is because they cannot find housing they can afford. It is the scarcity of affordable housing in the United States, particularly in more urban areas where homelessness is more prevalent, that is behind their inability to acquire or maintain housing.

By the numbers:

There are 633,782 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States.
Of that number, 239,403 are people in families, and
392,945 are individuals.
Slightly fewer than 16 percent of the homeless population are considered “chronically homeless,”and
About 10 percent of the homeless population – 62,619 – are vetrans
These numbers come from point in time counts which are conducted, community by community, on a single night in January every other year. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires communities to submit this data every other year in order to qualify for federal homeless assistance funds. Many communities conduct counts more regularly.

Information From: http://www.endhomelessness.org/