U.S. Homeless Population Drops by 49,000 in 2025

The number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States fell by approximately 49,000 in 2025. This represents a decrease of more than 6 percent from the previous year. It marks the second consecutive annual drop in the homeless population, following a smaller decline in 2024.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced the results of the annual national count in a press release. Turner attributed the historic decrease to the administration's efforts to secure the border and remove criminal immigrants from the streets. He stated that these actions restored safety to communities. The agency has not yet released a detailed report on the findings.

A separate analysis commissioned by the National Alliance to End Homelessness examined the same count data. The group found a similar overall decline but identified different primary causes. Ann Oliva, the group’s CEO, said the results show that Congress-funded programs are effectively moving people into housing. She emphasized that the data reflects a broad improvement across various demographics.

The Trump administration points to immigration policy changes as a key factor. During the Biden administration, New York, Chicago, Boston, and Denver saw large numbers of asylum seekers use homeless shelters. Devon Kurtz, a policy director at the Cicero Institute, noted that these four cities account for half of the recent national drop. Kurtz also cited San Francisco’s move toward sober-living housing, which bans drugs and alcohol, as a contributing factor.

The administration argues that requiring residents to be drug-free helps people achieve recovery. It plans to overhaul several billion dollars in homelessness spending to shift funds toward short-term housing with mandated addiction and mental health treatment. Courts have currently blocked this restructuring. The administration contends that the previous federal policy of providing permanent housing first, followed by voluntary treatment, contributed to the pandemic-era spike in homelessness.

Oliva disagrees with this assessment. She stated that programs which house people without preconditions were a major driver of the latest declines, particularly among veterans. Homelessness among U.S. veterans fell by more than 7 percent in 2025. This group has seen a nearly 60 percent reduction in the homeless population since 2010. Oliva noted that investments in these services are closer to the actual scale of need for veterans than for any other group.

While most groups saw a decline, the number of chronically homeless people rose slightly last year. Oliva said this group, which is more likely to suffer from mental health problems and addiction, requires more permanent housing solutions. She also pointed to external factors that influenced the count. Rental markets softened in some areas, reducing the flow of newly unhoused individuals. Additionally, declines were observed in regions hit by major weather disasters, such as western North Carolina and Hawaii, where federal assistance helped displace and resettle residents.

HUD credited a crackdown on homeless encampments for part of the decline. This approach follows a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that allowed cities to ban sleeping and camping in public places. Oliva’s independent analysis suggested that cities with such bans performed worse than the national average. Despite these differing interpretations, both reports agree that nearly 700,000 people remain in shelters or on the streets, a number significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.