As homelessness spikes nationwide, at least 4 major cities have found ways to get people off the streets

Unhoused people sleep on the streets of New York during freezing temperatures on February 16, 2018.

Ertugrul Cingil/Getty Images

As homelessness spikes in the US, a few major cities have found policies to address it.Brookings researchers found that Chicago, New York, Seattle, and Philadelphia have seen some success.The policies include building affordable housing and reducing barriers to housing for the formerly incarcerated.

Chicago, New York, Seattle, and Philadelphia are addressing rising homelessness rates by strengthening crisis response systems and affordable housing policies, according to a new study from the Brookings Institution.

There’s not a “one-size-fits all” solution to the housing crisis, the researchers wrote, but there are policies that reliably increase housing access. Plans that strengthen infrastructure for temporary and permanent affordable housing, and increase local support for demographics most vulnerable to homelessness, were consistently successful.

The study used 2023 data collected by the Department of Housing and Urban Development on the number of homeless and unsheltered people in 44 major urban areas.

National rates of total homelessness have risen steadily in the past decade, but Chicago and Philadelphia saw a 7% and 21% decline, respectively.

In New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, for example, most homeless people are not unsheltered, but live in temporary shelters, emergency shelters, or transitional housing. Building paths to permanent housing in those cities improved overall housing access, researchers said. But Seattle has higher rates of unsheltered homelessness, so resources were better directed to building more temporary housing options.

“These findings make it clear that cities have the evidence and tools at their disposal to reduce homelessness — there just needs to be the political will to invest in and scale them,” the researchers wrote.

Chicago and New York have seen longer-term success in reducing homelessness, but both saw a spike between 2022 and 2023. The researchers attributed much of New York’s 42% spike in total homelessness during that period to a sharp influx of migrants in need of homes and soaring housing costs.

The main driver of homelessness is the severe housing shortage across the country, so the most fundamental solution is creating more affordable housing. This involves loosening zoning and other land-use and building regulations to allow for more housing, the researchers noted.

Beyond making housing more abundant and affordable, the researchers said key policy solutions include removing barriers to shelter construction and tenants’ rights, creating crisis response systems that don’t involve the police, strengthening housing and employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated people, and increasing government support of public spaces.

People coming out of prison have a particularly hard time finding housing, in part because many landlords won’t consider applications from those with criminal records. Several cities and states, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Oregon, and New Jersey, have implemented so-called “fair chance for housing” laws that ban landlord discrimination against those with criminal histories, but most formerly incarcerated people still have a hard time finding housing.

A slew of research has found that formerly incarcerated people without stable housing are much more likely to recidivate and end up behind bars again. The Brookings researchers recommend local governments make it easier for those with records to get into public housing and support those who are most vulnerable to becoming homeless before they leave prison.

To prevent future homelessness, the researchers emphasized the need to create resources for people with mental health and substance abuse conditions, domestic violence survivors, and low-income families. Cities should also build more public bathrooms, water fountains, temporary shelters, and community spaces, they said.