Particle.news
Download on the App Store
4 ARTICLES
·
4w ago

HUD Releases 2025 Homeless Count as Secretary Moves Policy Away From Housing First

The department’s January 2025 one-night count shows a small drop from 2024 and signals a new federal emphasis on treatment, accountability and measurable outcomes.

{p}FILE - Drug sales and usage are widespread problems on the streets of San Francisco, with tent encampments lining some streets, recovery advocate Tom Wolf says. (Photo provided by Tom Wolf){/p}
FILE - A person walks past an encampment of homeless people in the afternoon heat in the Skid Row community on July 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Image

Overview

  • HUD’s point-in-time count, based on a one-night survey conducted in January 2025, found about 745,652 people experiencing homelessness, a 3% decline from 2024 and with 56% in emergency shelters and more than a third unsheltered.
  • Secretary Scott Turner blamed long-term increases since 2013 on a housing-first orthodoxy and said HUD will redirect federal support toward programs that tie housing to recovery, employment and other measurable outcomes consistent with the president’s executive order.
  • The national 3% drop masks wide local swings: 22 states and Washington, D.C. reported declines while a majority of states showed increases, with analysts pointing to asylum-seeker flows and changes in local counting as key drivers of abrupt shifts in places like New York and Illinois.
  • Advocates and recovery leaders say rising overdose deaths, especially from fentanyl, have worsened outcomes for people with substance use disorders and argue that voluntary services in housing-first models can fail people who need treatment and incentives to enter recovery.
  • The longer-term picture shows a 27% rise in homelessness since 2013, an 81% jump in chronic homelessness and a 151% increase in taxpayer-funded beds, a trend that helps explain why HUD and many cities are testing a mix of shelters, sober beds and targeted programs and why outcomes will continue to vary by jurisdiction.