An estimated 745,652 people were homeless on a single night in January 2025, a 3.3% decline from the year before, according to a new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
It’s the first decrease in overall homelessness in nearly a decade.
The total includes 266,320 individuals who were living on the streets, reveals the 2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, which includes the point-in-time (PIT) estimates.
The delayed report comes out just days before HUD is expected to release its new guidelines for distributing key funding for housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.
Following the May 29 release of the PIT report, advocates for the homeless criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to cut programs.
The National Homelessness Law Center noted that that the 2025 count was conducted just weeks into Trump’s second term and reflects the progress made through the Biden administration’s efforts to end homelessness.
“Homelessness is down because President Biden funded things that we know work, like housing and support,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the Center. “Sadly, the Trump administration is doing everything they can to backtrack on this progress. Trump’s policies will make housing more expensive and make more people homeless and sick. Donald Trump wants to take us backward, but most people know the truth: We need housing and support, not handcuffs and detention camps.”
Notably, this year’s report leaves out any discussion of gender.
“Instead of showing how men, women, and trans people are differently impacted by homelessness, the administration made the deliberate decision to erase all mentions of gender,” said the Center. “This isn’t just about words; it is about policy. This shift is consistent with Trump’s broader efforts to strip humanity from and scapegoat our homeless and trans neighbors. This administration has made their priorities clear: They are more interested in slow-walking vital data and wasting time removing words that don't align with narrow views than they are in addressing the dire lack of housing and care for everyone in this country.”
The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) also noted the lack of any analysis of gender in the 2025 report, saying the absence of this data will impact the ability to serve everyone in need.
On the other side, HUD officials touted a 27% increase in homelessness since 2013. They used 2013 as a baseline for comparisons, saying that period marked the beginning of Housing First policy changes at the agency.
"The data is clear that the status quo of ‘housing first’ has failed to meaningfully reduce homelessness, resulting in crisis levels of people living on the streets," said HUD secretary Scott Turner. "HUD is restoring its programs to advance recovery and self-sufficiency and to ensure that taxpayer-funded benefits serve American families.”
The latest report shows declines in the number of families, unaccompanied youth, and veterans experiencing homelessness, while people experiencing chronic homelessness and homelessness for people 65 and older increased in 2025.
Here are a several findings from the latest report:
- Between 2024 and 2025, 28 states reported increases in homelessness. The largest percent increase was in North Carolina, 33%, which saw more than 4,000 disaster-related emergency shelter beds due to Hurricane Helene;
- California had the highest number of homeless individuals, 181,934, in 2025, while New York had the highest rate of homelessness with 73 of every 10,000 people counted as homeless;
- There were 230,366 homeless people in families with children on a single night in January 2025, an 11% decline over the prior year;
- There were 35,159 unaccompanied homeless youth, about an 8% decline from the prior year;
- On a single night in January 2025, there were 32,495 homeless veterans, just a 1.2% drop from the previous year. The number of homeless vets has declined by 56% since 2009; and
- There were 155,750 individuals experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness, a 2% increase from 2024. Compared with 2013, chronic homelessness among individuals has soared by 81%.
While the overall reduction in homelessness is a relief, the issue remains a crisis, said Ann Oliva, CEO of the NAEH.
“So much of the progress reflected in the 2025 PIT count is due to targeted housing and service resources that were available in 2024 to rehouse people, including the highly successful Emergency Housing Voucher program, and new funds to address rural and unsheltered homelessness,” she said. “Unfortunately, the Trump administration has largely deprioritized these tools and worked to dismantle the very systems that drove these reductions.”
The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) also raised its concerns, noting that "since January 2025, safety nets and critical housing resources have been reduced or eliminated. Massive cuts to anti-poverty programs and the recently released House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development fiscal year 2027 spending bill, which allocates 8% less funding for HUD programs compared to fiscal 2026, indicate that the administration and Congress are prioritizing disinvestment in programs that help people exit homelessness."
“A rise in homelessness is unacceptable. Any reduction in the number of people forced to live on the street or at risk of losing their home is welcomed,” said NLIHC president and CEO Renee M. Willis. “However, we cannot ignore that effective federal solutions to end homelessness exist and are now under threat. Homelessness is a housing issue, and this administration continues to reduce investments in targeted federal affordable housing resources that could prevent homelessness from worsening.”
Willis and Oliva called on Congress to fund affordable housing and homelessness programs.