Annual Homelessness Assessment Report Reveals a 3% Decrease in Homelessness in 2025

On May 29, 2026, HUD released the 2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR), which reveals that there were 745,652 people experiencing homelessness in 2025 — a 3% decrease or approximately 25,828 less people than in 2024.

The AHAR defines “literal homelessness” as people staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, safe havens, or unsheltered locations “. . . such as cars, on the street, or in encampments.” It does not include people who are “staying with family or friends” or “other unstable living situations.” It also does not include people living in permanent housing programs like permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, or other permanent housing set aside for homeless people.

The report provides estimates based on data collected during the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, which is usually a one-night count of sheltered and unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness. The PIT count is typically conducted nationwide by localities during the coldest time of the year — late January — because the data is meant to capture when homeless shelters are at their maximum capacity to provide a more accurate representation of the number of people experiencing homelessness.

While the report shows decreases in homelessness, this is the second largest recorded number of people experiencing homelessness since reporting began in 2007.

Of the total recorded number of people experiencing homelessness, 64% are sheltered (occupying spaces in safe havens, homeless shelters, or traditional housing) and 36% are unsheltered (those that live in tents, on street corners, in cars, under bridges, etc.). This distribution is the same as it was in 2024, however people experiencing unsheltered homelessness declined by 7,904 people. Additionally, the number of people in emergency shelters dropped by 3.9% or approximately 16,931 less people.

On average, about 22 out of every 10,000 people were homeless on a single night nationally. Those who identified as White made up 36.7% of the total population, those who identified as Black, African American, or African made up 32.7%, those who identified as Hispanic/Latino made up 27.5%, and those who identified under another racial or ethnic category made up the remainder.

The largest decreases of homelessness by percent occurred in Illinois (44% decrease), Hawaii (41% decrease), and Guam (31% decrease). The areas with the largest increases by percent include North Carolina (33% increase), Mississippi (20% increase), and Oregon (19% increase). The data also shows that 25 states reported that more than 50 percent of individuals with chronic patterns of homelessness were unsheltered on the night of the count. As defined by HUD, chronic homelessness is being homeless for at least a year, or at least four times in a year totaling 12 months, combined with a disabling chronic health condition of an individual or an adult head of household within a family.

Data also reveals a decrease in veterans experiencing homelessness compared to 2024—387 less, a total of 32,495 people. This is the lowest level of veteran homelessness ever recorded.

As explained in the beginning of the report, HUD attributes increases in homelessness to changes made to the CoC Program Competition in 2013, which emphasized the Housing First model prioritizing permanent housing projects over other types of programs like emergency shelters, treatment only programs, and transitional housing. However, this correlation does not factor in other elements such as the rise of inflation, changes in the housing market, a rise in limited housing affordability, and housing displacement resulting from natural disasters or global health epidemics.