A homeless camp in Los Angeles.
(NewsNation) – The number of people who are homeless is on the rise across the board, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the report, which used data from 150 organizations that count homeless people, homelessness rose in 100 out of 150 cities, towns and states.
The analysis found that homelessness is on the rise in most major urban areas such as Chicago, Miami, Boston and Phoenix.
Millions in federal funds made available to cities to support migrant housing
NewsNation saw the problem firsthand in Phoenix last month, when local officials took action to demolish a massive tent city and worked to relocate those living there into temporary shelters.
On a smaller scale, the problem is visible in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. In addition, an emergency shelter that opened just a few days ago in upstate New York is already full.
“Before the city put up these gates, this was the toilet, and every morning I would come out and scoop up human feces and urine and scrub it down every day,” Joel Coplin, owner of a Phoenix art gallery, previously told NewsNation.
Sybil Newell, the executive director of Rise Healthy Housing and Support Services in New York, told WTEN, a NewsNation subsidiary, that the narrative that people want to be on the street rather than in a house is “completely wrong.”
“I think this shelter really shows that,” Newell said. “On the first night all 30 beds were occupied and on the second night five more were added.”
Nationally, homelessness increased by 0.3% in 2022 compared to 2020.
That slight increase is due to pandemic programs that have helped house people, the federal government said.
