Homelessness decreased slightly last year in New York City and New York State according to numbers released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban last week. There were 77,943 homeless individuals in New York City on a single night in January 2020 and 91,271 statewide.
Both state and city homeless populations are roughly 1 percent less than in 2019, though both are greater than 2017 and other preceding years. New York City’s homeless population is 3 percent more than five years ago and 47 percent more than in 2010.
These numbers come from counting individuals on a single night, called the HUD Point In Time count. The count was done in January 2020 before the start of the pandemic, so these numbers do not account for changes due to Covid-19 which likely caused homelessness to increase.
New York City’s population estimate includes individuals that were living unsheltered and individuals in all New York City shelters, including DHS, HRA, DYCD, and HPD. The often-cited New York City number of homeless individuals of roughly 60,000 only includes those in traditional DHS shelters.
