A new report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) shows a nationwide 1% decrease in homelessness, although NAEH notes that this is not indicative of a permanent trend. The NAEH  report, “The State of Homelessness in America 2012,” used data from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s  collection of Point in Time (PIT) homeless counts gathered from all the states from 2009-2011.

The report showed a nationwide 1% decrease in homelessness over the  2009-2011 time period. NAEH states that this drop may be attributed to the federal dollars pumped into the system by the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP). However, money for that program will begin to dry up by fall of 2012. In addition, since 2011, the last year of data used for the report, there are already signs that the number of homeless are increasing. This is not surprising since homelessness is a lagging indicator.  As the economic recession continues, it is expected that homelessness will rise as at risk households use up the savings and other assets which may be keeping them afloat.

A few of the main findings from the report:

• 1% nationwide decrease in homelessness
• The largest decrease was in the number of homeless veterans; 11%
• Chronic homelessness decreased by 3% and has decrease by 13% since 2007
• There is a correlation with an increase in permanent supportive housing beds available
• There was an increase of homelessness in 24 states and D.C.

Homelessness statistics from CT from 2009-2011:

• The overall homelessness in CT decrease by 3% from 09-11
• Unsheltered homeless increased by 38%
• Chronic homelessness increased by 27%
• Homelessness in families decreased by 24%-(The Point in Time count from 2010-2011 showed a 15% increase)
• Homelessness among veterans decreased 4%

Click here for a summary of the report. 
The full report can be found here.