Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2023 annual report on the 15th showing that the number of homeless people in the United States at this stage exceeds 650,000, a new high since the statistics began in 2007. According to experts, homelessness is on the rise due to multiple factors, such as rising rents, poverty, and increased evictions due to the failure of tenant protections implemented during the pandemic.
The Associated Press reported on the 15th, citing a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, that the number of homeless people in the United States in January this year reached 653,000, an increase of 70,650 or 12% year-on-year. The number of homeless individuals increased by nearly 11 percent year-on-year, and the number of families with children living on the streets increased by 15.5 percent, reversing the downward trend since 2012.
A female homeless person walks in the rain on Sixth Street in downtown Los Angeles, U.S., on January 10, 2023. Xinhua News Agency
The increase in homelessness compared to last year is mainly due to the sharp increase in the number of people living on the streets for the first time. In the 2022 fiscal year, which runs from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022, first-time homelessness increased by 25% compared to the previous fiscal year.
The issue of systemic racial discrimination cannot be ignored either. According to the report, African-Americans make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population and 37 percent of the homeless, while Latinos make up about 19 percent of the U.S. population and 33 percent of the homeless. More than half of the increase in homelessness compared to last year was Latino, and these Latino homelessness increased by 39,106 people, an increase of 28% year-over-year.
In addition, homeless veterans increased by 7.4% year-over-year. According to data released by the U.S. government in 2022, there were more than 30,000 homeless veterans in the United States in January of that year.
This is a tent photographed by a homeless person in downtown Los Angeles, U.S., on January 10, 2023. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Zeng Hui)
According to the report and media interpretation, there are many reasons for the increase in homelessness in the United States, such as rising rents. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, rents in the country have risen significantly in recent years. In 2022, the rental environment was described as "extremely challenging", with rents rising more than twice as fast as in previous years.
In November, although the median rent of apartments in the United States began to decline, it was still up 22% from the same period in 2019, although it began to decline, according to data from Redfin, a U.S. real estate brokerage. At this stage, the median rent for apartments in the United States is not far from the record high of $2,054 in August 2022.
Second, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as tenant protections that allowed late rent payments during the pandemic in the U.S. expired in 2022, evictions increased in many areas, especially for families with children and people of color. Many of the evicted tenants end up on the streets.
A homeless man walks on the streets of Sixth Street in downtown Los Angeles, U.S., in the rain, January 10, 2023. Xinhua News Agency
Third, the United States, as the number one capitalist country, has a serious gap between the rich and the poor. CNN quoted Peggy Bailey, director of the U.S. Center for Budget and Policy Priorities in charge of housing and income security, as saying on the 15th that the main reason for homelessness and housing instability lies in the "gap between low income and rent."
According to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau in December last year, there were 37.9 million poor people in the United States in 2021, with an official poverty rate of 11.6%. These poor people are less able to bear the risks and may find themselves in trouble due to illness, unemployment, accidents, etc., resulting in the loss of their homes and the end of their lives.
Bailey urged that measures to specifically help specific people emerge from homelessness need to reach "everyone who needs it."
This is a homeless person photographed on a street in downtown Los Angeles, United States, on January 10, 2023. Xinhua News Agency
The Associated Press noted that the number of homeless people in Houston, Dallas, San Jose and many other places has declined, but this phenomenon is suspected of "flooding" because some places only "beautify" the data by shutting down homeless camps and dispersing homeless people.
Philip Alston, a former UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said that the United States is the only developed country that insists that "human rights do not include the right to be free from starvation, free from having no money for medical care, and free from growing up in extreme poverty." (Wang Yijun)