From staff reports A nationwide 2023 head count conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development revealed that homelessness increased 12.1% from the year before.
The total homeless population was largely declining from 2007 to 2022 before rising in 2023. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness attributes the current rise to inadequate systems around affordable housing, wages, and equitable access to physical and mental health care and economic opportunity.
According to USA Facts, California had the highest total number of people experiencing homelessness, 181,399, followed by New York with 103,200 and Florida with 30,756.
The picture is slightly different when considering the number of homeless people per 10,000 population overall. New York and Vermont had the highest state rates, with New York at 52.7 per 10,000 people and Vermont at 50.9. Mississippi had the lowest state rate: 3.3 per 10,000 population.
Washington, D.C., comprised of a single city, had the nation’s highest homelessness rate overall: 72.5 people per 10,000 residents. The U.S. homelessness rate was 19.4 per 10,000 people.
Some of the states with the highest rates have seen higher-than-average increases in the last five years. For example, the homelessness rate in Vermont was 20.6 per 10,000 in 2018, but more than doubled to 50.9 per 10,000 in 2023.
Connecticut, Hawaii and Maryland had the largest drops in homelessness rates, though those decreases were comparably modest. Each had two to three fewer homeless people per 10,000 residents than in 2018.
Approximately 653,000 Americans experienced homelessness in January 2023, according to the HUD point-in-time data, which measures homelessness across the U.S. on a single night each winter.
Homelessness isn’t a particularly urban or rural issue. Vermont is the nation’s most rural state – as of 2020, 65% of its population lived in rural areas – and had one of the highest rates of homelessness. California and Nevada are the states with the highest percentages of inhabitants in urban areas, and their homelessness rates were also in the top 10.
In Lawton, a Homeless Action Committee has been established to “reduce the community impact of homelessness” by identifying services available locally and referring homeless individuals to servicing agencies. Another of its duties will be identifying “the scope of homelessness” in Lawton-Fort Sill.
The seven-member panel was created March 12 by the City Council.
All seven members will be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council. Four of the members will be city councilors and three “shall be members of the community”: one from the social services field, one from the mental health field, and one from the faith-based community. The members will serve at the pleasure of the mayor for indefinite terms.
The committee must meet on a regular basis but no less than quarterly.
In February the Lawton City Council established an ad hoc committee to “address challenges stemming from the transient community.”
Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris chairs the Council Committee, with assistance from colleagues Allan Hampton, Ward 5; Bob Weger, Ward 6; and Sherene Williams, Ward 7.
The Council Committee will work alongside the Homeless Task Force, a volunteer community organization.
“This is a growing problem,” Mayor Stan Booker said.
“We need an umbrella organization for all of the different initiatives” arising from homelessness, such as mental health, vagrancy, litter, and fires in vacant dwellings, City Manager John Ratliff said. “This is a complicated issue and requires a multifaceted organization to synchronize these initiatives.” Rental prices affect homelessness State rates of homelessness vary because of factors such as housing affordability – e.g., rent.
According to a 2020 Government Accountability Office report, rent prices can play a role in homelessness rates. California, Washington, D.C. and Hawaii had the nation’s highest rents in 2022 and among the highest rates of homelessness in 2023; all three were in the top 10 nationally. West Virginia and Mississippi had among the country’s lowest rents and lower homelessness rates.
In Oklahoma, the 2023 homelessness rate was 11.5 per 10,000 population, and the 2022 median gross rental rate was $937 per month.
In Texas, the homelessness rate in 2023 was 9.0 per 10,000 people, and the 2022 median gross rental rate was $1,290.
In Arkansas, the homelessness rate was 8.5 per 10,000 and the median rent was $846/ month; in Kansas, homelessness was 9.0/10,000 and median rent was $975 per month; New Mexico’s homelessness rate was 18.2 per 10,000 population and median rent was $955 per month; in Missouri, homelessness was 10.8 people per 10,000 population and median monthly rent was $954.
Nearly 250,000 homeless Americans – 37.3% of the entire homeless population – identified as Black, African American or African in 2023. By comparison, this demographic made up 13.6% of the U.S. population in 2022.
Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders had the highest rates of homelessness at 122 per 10,000 people in that racial category. These rates could be partially a result of the high cost of living in Hawaii. In 2022 it was among the states with the highest rates of owners and renters who were considered “housing burdened.”
Twenty-eight percent of all homeless people identified as Hispanic. In 2022, 19% of the national population was Hispanic.
Veterans also experienced homelessness at a slightly higher rate than the overall population. Twenty-two out of every 10,000 veterans were homeless. However, the veteran homelessness rate has decreased by more than onethird since 2010.
According to the council, people who experience homelessness have a life expectancy of 50, compared to 77 for the average American.