Chicago’s homeless population increased threefold, a city snapshot shows, owing largely to migrants
The city’s annual point-in-time count showed nearly 19,000 people were unhoused on a single night in January.
By Tessa Weinberg Jun 7, 2024, 10:07am EDT
More than 18,800 Chicagoans experienced homelessness on a single night in January — a threefold increase over last year that was largely driven by 13,900 asylum-seekers who had no permanent place to stay.
The estimates released Friday come from the city’s annual snapshot of the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night. This year’s point-in-time count was conducted on Jan. 25 — shortly after the city saw its peak of the number of migrants it sheltered. During the count, 13,679 asylum-seekers were living in shelters, with 212 unsheltered.
Outside of the population of asylum-seekers, the number of people who were in city shelters or staying on the street saw an uptick to 4,945 — a 25% increase from the 3,943 “non-new arrivals” who were sheltered and unsheltered last year.
Of that demographic, Black Chicagoans experienced higher rates of homelessness, with 72% identifying as Black, compared to Black residents making up roughly a third of the city’s population.
https://www.wbez.org/city-hall/2024/06/07/chicagos-homeless-population-increased-threefold-a-city-snapshot-shows-owing-largely-to-migrants
