Today, the first day of winter, is recognized annually as National Homeless Persons Remembrance Day.  Sponsored since 1990 by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, this day of recognition is intended to bring attention to the nation’s homeless population and to encourage action for their benefit.

Often overlooked, homelessness is nonetheless a reality for communities across the region and state.  Every year since 2007, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has facilitated an annual point-in-time* count of homeless individuals in every state across the country, resulting in the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress.  According to the data provided along with the annual report, on a single night in January in 2018, there were a total of 9,499 homeless individuals in Georgia, 5,900 of which were temporarily sheltered and 3,599 who were not.  The total number of homeless in the state, according to the count, has been been on a steep decline since a peak of 20,975 in 2011.

The interactive chart below was created using data provided to HUD by Georgia’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program participants (covering 97% of the state).

Additional Information:

Continuum of Cares (CoCs) in Georgia:

* The “point-in-time” refers to a single night in January for which an individual’s housing status was assessed.  The most recent “point-in-time” was January 23, 2018.

** Chronically homeless individuals are defined by HUD as those “with a disability who has been continuously homeless for one year or more or has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years where the combined length of time homeless in those occasions is at least 12 months.”

Data source:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 2018 AHAR: Part 1 – PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S.