US HOMELESS POPULATION GROWS IN 2020

Sat 20 March 2021:

US homelessness grew for the fourth straight year in 2020, jumping two percent even before the outbreak of the pandemic, the Housing and Urban Development agency said in its annual report to Congress on Thursday.

“The number of people experiencing homelessness nationwide increased by two percent between 2019 and 2020, or 12,751 more people. This marks the fourth consecutive year that total homelessness has increased in the United States,” the report said. “The point-in-time counts of homelessness… are based on data from January 2020 so do not reflect the health or economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge said in the 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment that the increase was troubling and cited as an example the astonishing numbers on a single night at the beginning of the year.

“On a single night in January 2020, 580,466 people – about 18 of every 10,000 people in the United States – experienced homelessness across the United States,” Fudge said.

This was a 2.2 percent increase from 2019, she said, adding that the administration is aware that “ensuring that every American has a safe, stable home is a national imperative.”

In its $1.9 trillion pandemic-related American Rescue Plan enacted last week, the administration passed various measures for housing, after acknowledging that most families in the country were struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Under the plan, President Joe Biden called on Congress to extend a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures of mortgages until September 30, 2021.

Aside from that, the plan set aside $5 billion in emergency assistance to help secure housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. It also allocated $30 billion for rental and energy and water assistance for hard-hit individuals and families.