Blue States Saw Highest Rates of Homelessness in 2023

In the year 2023, the highest recorded rates of homelessness on average were found in states that lean Democratic, as well as the District of Columbia.

As the Daily Caller reports, the data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was released in December. Although not actually a state, Washington D.C. had the highest rate of homelessness in the country, at 73.3 for every 10,000 residents, which amounts to roughly 4,922 total homeless.

New York came in second with 52.4 homeless people for every 10,000, or 103,200 total. Vermont came in third with 50.9 per 10,000, or about 3,295. Rounding out the top five was Oregon, in fourth place, with 50 per 10,000, equating to about 20,000 people; and California, with 46.5 per 10,000, equivalent to 181,399 people.

The city of San Francisco in particular saw a surge in homeless tent encampments in the aftermath of the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, reaching a record high of over 500. The city of New York has also faced a similar crisis, though the numbers are more due to illegal aliens than homeless residents, with over 70,000 illegals currently being housed in homeless shelters or emergency shelters.

Even though the city of Los Angeles has pledged to spend $1 billion to combat homelessness as part of Mayor Karen Bass’s (D-Calif.) “Inside Safe” program, the number of homeless encampments in the city has increased by 40.

The nationwide rate of homelessness rose by 12% from 2022 to 2023, recording the highest-ever number of homeless Americans since these numbers first started being tracked in 2007; the current total is approximately 653,000. There was a particularly alarming rise in the number of young people who became homeless, with over 34,7000 people under the age of 25 identifying as homeless at least once; this marks a 15% increase from the previous year.

By contrast, the lowest rates of homelessness in the country were found in states that lean Republican. The state with the lowest rate is Mississippi, at just 3.3 per 10,000 people, followed by Louisiana’s 6.9 per 10,000, or roughly 3,169 total people, and Alabama’s 3,300 homeless people.