Overview
- Four peer-reviewed papers released Thursday report that for every home lost to a climate event per 10,000 residents, homelessness rises by 1 percentage point.
- In Los Angeles County, the January 2025 wildfires displaced roughly 200,000 people, and unsheltered residents reported injuries, breathing problems from smoke, and destroyed tents and belongings.
- From 2020 to 2022, U.S. homelessness rose 11%, which the researchers estimate would have been an 8% decline without climate disasters.
- Pandemic eviction protections limited the surge, and the team estimates homelessness would have risen nearly 20% if evictions had continued.
- The studies link frequent encampment sweeps to worse health and call for closer coordination between emergency response and homeless services, including street medicine and mobile clinics.