HUD: U.S. homelessness drops 6.3% — largest decrease on record

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday that 698,425 people were homeless on a single night in January 2026 — a 6.3% drop since President Trump took office in 2025, and the largest year-over-year decrease on record.

HUD credited border enforcement, a Supreme Court ruling that backed local limits on dangerous encampments, and a shift away from the Biden-era Housing First model toward Treatment First policies that tackle addiction. Under Biden, HUD said, homelessness rose 28% from 2022 to 2025 as illegal immigrants filled shelters in sanctuary states including New York, Illinois, California and Massachusetts.

Secretary Scott Turner said Trump's actions to secure the border and remove criminal illegal immigrants "drove a historic decrease," while warning homelessness remains near historic highs. Independent analysts at the National Alliance to End Homelessness separately estimated a roughly 6.7% national decline. Los Angeles was a notable exception: L.A. County's count rose about 1.2% and the city of Los Angeles about 3.4%, according to local figures cited by the New York Post.