Homelessness is a national issue, but it's often thought of as a local problem. Knowing this, I wanted to take a look at homelessness on a national level and illustrate it as an infographic series to visualize what areas are most impacted by homelessness. The following maps help showcase why homelessness might appear worse in some areas than others.
Not every state is equal when it comes to homelessness. The west coast states (including Hawaii) are well known for their the number of homeless that can be seen. As a country, we have divided our homeless populations into two groups: sheltered and unsheltered. A sheltered homeless person will sleep at night in a shelter, an automobile, or a friend or family members house. An unsheltered homeless person will sleep outside or in a tent.
Unsheltered homeless make up the majority of homeless across the west coast, while homeless in the midwest and east are more likely to sleep in a shelter.
Despite some cities in the east having similar amounts of homeless as those in the west (Atlanta, Miami, Washington D.C., and New York for example), unsheltered homelessness is a major issue that's impacting the west.
And even looking at the west coast specifically, not all cities are dealing with homelessness on the same level. Coastal California cities are primarily dealing with much higher levels of homeless both in total and unsheltered. Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest, the much smaller city of Eugene, OR is disproportionately impacted by homeless as compared to its much larger cousin Portland, OR.
This has been just a small look at homelessness in our country. While some places are impacted more heavily that others and in different capacities, homelessness continues to be a national issue that requires a national solution.
All data is sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2019 year data.
