The Tenderloin area of San Francisco is one of the areas where homelessness is a problem. Photo: Anadolu/Anadolu
The number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States has risen to its highest level ever, a blow to Joe Biden's policy pledge to cut the rate by 25 percent.
Federal officials said the 12 percent increase was due to a clash of factors including rising housing costs, the opioid epidemic and overdue aid during the pandemic that helped people stay in their homes.
According to the data, The data was collected in January and published by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is the largest increase and the highest since the country first began reporting data in 2007.
“A challenging rental market with historically low vacancy rates, expiring pandemic-era housing programs and an increase in the number of people those experiencing homelessness for the first time have contributed to the increase in homelessness,” said Marion McFadden, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.
The Housing Ministry added that rental conditions have become «extremely challenging» since the pandemic, with rents rising more than twice as fast as in recent years.
The numbers are as follows. It's a blow to the Biden administration's flagship «All In» anti-homelessness policy, launched last December and aimed at reducing rough sleeping by a quarter by 2025.
These figures are a blow to one of the president's key policies. Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP
The US government spent about $30 billion of its latest budget to combat homelessness across the country, including specific projects in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and the state of California.
At the launch a year ago, Mr. Biden said his plan “offers a roadmap to not only keep people housed, but to ensure they have access to the supports, services and income that will enable them to thrive.”
< p>The White House has sent an official to each of its six priority areas, trying to persuade the federal government to support local efforts to reduce homelessness.
But despite these measures, homelessness among people has risen nearly 11 percent over the past year , among veterans — by 7.4 percent and among families with children — by 15.5 percent.
More than half of the country's homeless live in four states: California, New York, Florida and Washington.
California, New York, Florida and Washington were the states with the biggest problems. Photo: Ted S. Warren/AP
More than a quarter of homeless adults counted this year were over 54, reflecting what researchers call a growing «silver tsunami» as the youngest baby boomers reach retirement age.< /p>
This happened after one of the Democratic officials accused them of this. «capitalism» for homeless people in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco.
«I think what you see in the Tenderloin is the absolute result of capitalism and what happens under capitalism to the people on the bottom rungs, said Dean Preston, a member of the city's Board of Supervisors.
His remarks were criticized by Tom Wolfe, a former homeless drug addict and charity worker who said he was «deviating» from lax drug policies.
“The problem is that for every person who comes out of homelessness, another becomes homeless,” said Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
In the decade since By the first count, the United States had made steady progress in reducing homelessness through programs such as increased investment in veterans' housing. The number of homeless people fell from about 637,000 in 2010 to about 554,000 in 2017.
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