June 24, 2026
On May 29, HUD released its Annual Homelessness Assessment Report. The report was published five months after the congressionally mandated deadline, and it showed a modest 3% reduction in overall homelessness in the United States between 2024 and 2025 — the first decrease in almost a decade. It is important to note that this reduction is the result of work communities had done prior to January 2025 and does not reflect the damaging policies the Trump administration has propagated since. Another important takeaway is that the headline numbers do not tell the full story.
At first glance, we may be encouraged by what appear to be significant reductions among people of color experiencing homelessness. When we examine the differences between families and single adults, however, a much more complicated picture emerges.
The AHAR shows that homelessness among families with children declined significantly overall, with Black and Hispanic/Latino families experiencing some of the largest reductions. These numbers suggest that targeted housing assistance, diversion programs, rental assistance and equity-focused interventions had a measurable impact. When we invest resources and direct them toward communities that have been disproportionately harmed, we can move the needle.
But there is another side to this story.
While family homelessness declined, homelessness among single adults reached record levels. Specifically, the number of Black individuals experiencing homelessness increased, particularly within sheltered settings. This should concern all of us.
The data appears to reveal two competing realities. On one hand, supportive interventions helped stabilize vulnerable families. On the other, the growing embrace of criminalization policies and encampment sweeps is simply reshuffling homelessness rather than ending it. We cannot arrest our way out of a housing crisis. We cannot sweep our way to affordability. We cannot criminalize poverty into submission.
The AHAR continues to reinforce a lesson that advocates have been repeating for more than 40 years: We must bring resources to scale. Homelessness has grown over the past decade not because we have not found the right philosophy, but because we continue to fund solutions at levels far below the need.
It is also important to remember that the AHAR is not a census. It is a Point-in-Time count — a snapshot. The true scope of homelessness in America is much, much larger. What the Point-in-Time count does provide is an important measure of year-over-year trends, and those trends deserve our attention.
The report highlights both the strengths and shortcomings of the Biden era. It demonstrates that targeted investments, housing resources and coordinated interventions can reduce homelessness among vulnerable populations. At the same time, it exposes the persistent failure to bring resources anywhere close to the scale required to end homelessness.
Most troubling, it serves as a warning about the direction we are heading. As federal resources are threatened, safety-net programs face cuts and punitive approaches replace evidence-based housing strategies, we should expect homelessness to rise. The data does not support criminalization. The data does not support forced displacement. The data supports housing, prevention, rental assistance and supportive services.
For those of us who have lived through this crisis for decades, the AHAR reads like a sign at a societal crossroads. We can build on what worked, invest at the scale required and finally address the root causes of homelessness. Or we can continue down a path of austerity, criminalization and misinformation.
If we choose the latter, this report may ultimately be remembered as a harbinger of an era of unabated homelessness — made worse by policy decisions driven by ideology rather than evidence and by leadership that too often lacks the experience, knowledge and humility required to confront one of the most urgent humanitarian challenges in America.
The people closest to the issue are closest to the solution. It’s time we started listening.
