In the USA, 653 thousand people are homeless, the all-time record
The phenomenon of homelessness is on the rise in the United States: a HUD (House and Urban Development) report reported by the Epoch Times indicates that approximately 653,000 people are homeless, the highest number ever recorded.
Inflation, combined with the end of pandemic-era eviction protections, were the primary causes identified in the HUD report, released Dec. 15. Another important factor noted in the report is the housing shortage.
HUD's 2023 annual count, which measured homelessness on a single night in January 2023, showed a 12% increase in homelessness (or 70,650 individuals) over the previous year. That brought the total to 653,104 homeless people, the highest since the agency launched the point-in-time count in 2007.
“For those on the front lines of this crisis, this is not surprising. People across the country are struggling to pay skyrocketing rents,” said Ann Olivia, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
The sharpest increase in homelessness was among people in families with children, with an increase of 15.5%. This is followed by unaccompanied young people, who increased by 15.3%.
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, running for U.S. Senate, has blamed President Joe Biden's policies for fueling homelessness.
“In Joe Biden's America it is almost impossible to pay rent or afford a house,” she wrote in a post on X, pledging to address the problem of chronic street homelessness if she is elected in 2024.
Further details
According to HUD, the increase in homelessness has been driven primarily by a sharp increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time. Between the years 2021 and 2022, the number of people who became newly homeless increased by 25%.
The increase in first-time homelessness is likely due to a combination of factors, including rising rents and the end of pandemic-era protections and programs aimed at preventing evictions and housing loss.
The record homelessness occurred as a result of sharp increases in rents and stagnation in rental household incomes. An analysis of Census Bureau data conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) shows that median rent increased by 18.8% between 2001 and 2022, while median rental household income increased by 4.3% in the same period of time.
Moody's Analytics US State of Rent Burden report, released earlier this year, found that most renters spend more than a third of their monthly income on rent, calling it “rent burdened.”
Rental control?
In recent years, U.S. housing costs for buyers and renters have skyrocketed.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the housing index within the Consumer Price Index (CPI) continued to rise in November. It increased by 0.4% in monthly terms and 6.5% in annual terms.
In fact, the increase in the housing index was the largest factor in the monthly increase in the overall CPI index, with the exception of food and energy. If inflation grows in the USA it is
Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky and Massachusetts are among the states considering proposals to add rent control. In response, homeowner advocates argue that rent caps do not bring down prices simply because they disincentivize the construction of new homes and thus increase supply, the only real tool for reducing prices in the long run
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The article In the USA 653 thousand people are homeless, the all-time record comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/negli-usa-653-mila-persona-non-hanno-casa-il-record-di-tutti-i-tempi/ on Sun, 17 Dec 2023 08:00:27 +0000.