New York City
Total homeless: 73,523
Thirteen percent of all homeless people in the United States live in New York City. The city has a large number of homeless, but only about 4% of them live on the street, according to HUD. Homeless people in New York are legally entitled to shelter, but because of a lack of shelter space, the city has been spending millions of dollars every year to house the homeless in hotels, the New York Times reported.
- Los Angeles
Total homeless: 43,854 (includes both Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County)
Los Angeles has more chronically homeless, homeless veterans, and homeless young people than any other city in the country. Seventy-five percent of all homeless people in Los Angeles are living on the streets, in their cars, or in other makeshift situations, the second-highest rate of in the country.
The sky-high cost of housing in the city is largely to blame for the homelessness crisis, the Los Angeles Times reported. But some relief is in sight. In November 2016, voters approved a bond measure that would cover the cost of building 10,000 permanent homes for the homeless in the next 10 years.
- Seattle
Total homeless: 10,730 (includes all of King County)
Rising rents and cuts to government programs are partly to blame for Seattle’s large homeless population. The city has struggled to figure out what to do about the number of people living on the streets and in encampments. One innovative solution involved building tiny houses to serve as temporary housing for the homeless, though only a few dozen units have actually been constructed. The city’s mayor, Ed Murray, has also said he plans to pursue a property-tax levy that would provide millions of dollars to help combat homelessness.
- San Diego
Total homeless: 8,669 (includes San Diego City and San Diego County)
Like many cities on this list, a lack of affordable housing is a key component of the homelessness crisis in San Diego. Even people who get housing vouchers are often unable to use them because of low vacancy rates and high rents, KPBS reported. Plus, redevelopment downtown has caused cheap, single-room occupancy units to vanish, pushing people onto the street. San Diego also has the second-largest population of homeless veterans in the country, at 1,156 people.
- District of Columbia
Total homeless: 8,350
The number of homeless in Washington, D.C., grew by 34% between 2009 and 2017, an analysis of HUD by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found. The city has 124 homeless for every 100,000 residents. The high cost of living in the nation’s capital is to blame, local experts told the New York Times. Some low-wage workers, especially single mothers with children, simply can’t find stable, affordable housing.