Reports suggest that the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States has pushed the number of homeless people in the country to perhaps its highest level since data was first recorded, and cities are draining their coffers to fund shelters.
At least 550,000 people were reported homeless in January, the same month the US saw a record number of people crossing the border. According to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
The alarming number of homeless people is at least 10% higher than January 2023, which was the highest annual total since the government began publishing its own statistics in 2007, the media outlet noted.
This January's tally will likely be even higher because not all cities, including New York, which has a sizable homeless population, have yet to report data to the government.
Based on this trend, the report suggests that the number of homeless people in the U.S. is on track to surpass the dire 2023 figure of 653,000.
As record numbers of migrants cross the border illegally, claim asylum, and are bused into cities like New York, Chicago, Boston and Denver, homeless hordes are swelling, straining national coffers and bringing crime and gang violence to the streets..
A report from Massachusetts said that of the more than 7,000 families housed in the state's family shelters in January, nearly half were immigrants, and the state plans to spend more than $1 billion on immigrant housing this fiscal year, the Journal reported.
More than seven in 10 homeless people in Chicago are immigrants, and the number of homeless people in the city tripled that month to more than 18,800.
In Denver, where immigrant gangs are rampant, the new wave of influx has led to a staggering 42 percent increase in the city's homeless population.
Migrant border crossings and bus trips have declined since peaking earlier this year.
The report also blames rising fentanyl use, rising home and rent prices and the end of pandemic-era tax credits for potentially pushing families out of their homes and onto the streets.
California has struggled to protect the nation's largest homeless population, even as Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom pressures cities to remove encampments.
According to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the state will experience more than 180,000 homeless people in 2023.
HUD has yet to release its official 2024 report.
The Wall Street Journal conducted its own tally with the help of 250 organizations across the country and expects the number to be much higher and more accurate.
“[HUD estimates] “The number is widely believed to be an undercount of the actual death toll, which depends on the number of volunteers and bad weather,” the Journal reported.
