Homelessness in the U.S. saw its largest drop in more than a decade last year

After years of increasing to record-high levels, the homeless population in the U.S.dropped more than 6% in 2025.

That amounts to roughly 49,000 fewer people without housing.It's the second year in a row that homelessness has declined, with a smaller drop in 2024."President Trump's actions to secure the border, get criminal illegals off our streets, and restore safety to our communities drove a historic decrease in homelessness," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said in a press release announcing the results of an annual count in communities around the country.

The agency had not yet posted a detailed report.A second independent analysis based on the same count, but commissioned by the advocacy group National Alliance to End Homelessness, found a similar decline but credited different reasons for it."It's good news that more people are getting housed, and that the programs that are funded by Congress are working," said CEO Ann Oliva.Both analyses find there's still nearly 700,000 people in the U.S.living in shelters or on the streets, significantly more than before the COVID-19 pandemic.The Trump administration cited its changes in immigration policy as a key factor in the decline.

During the Biden administration, New York, Chicago, Boston and Denver all saw a surge in asylum seekers who turned up at homeless shelters."That's also the four cities that have driven half of the drop most recently," said Devon Kurtz, Public Safety Policy Director at the Cicero Institute, an administration ally on homelessness policy.Kurtz also pointed to declines in cities like San Francisco, which is moving to support more sober-living options, housing that bans drugs and alcohol.

But critics say that can send more people back to the street if they relapse, which is common.The administration argues that the requirement to be drug-free would help more people achieve recovery, and wants to expand such programs.In fact, the administration wants to overhaul several...