*New* Mapping Homelessness: Visualizing Trends and Challenges
Posted: 7/25/2024 ()
In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision backing anti-camping laws, which significantly impacts homeless individuals across the nation, PolicyMap’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Homelessness data update comes at a crucial time. This refreshed dataset provides essential insights into homelessness, helping communities and policymakers better understand and respond to the ever evolving challenges faced by homeless populations.
The data comes from HUD’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR), which displays a snapshot of homelessness in the United States on a single night. The AHAR contains point-in-time (PIT) counts of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January.1 The PIT estimates are collected by local planning bodies within HUD-defined Continuums of Care (CoC). The CoCs coordinate a full range of homelessness services in a geographic area, which may cover a city, county, metropolitan area, or an entire state. All available HUD Homelessness data is available on PolicyMap from 2007 to 2023.