Chicago's homelessness surged in 2024, as major U.S. cities bore the brunt of a national trend

As the United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness last year, Chicago's total more than tripled.

Nationally, the dramatic rise was driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing, natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials say in a new report.

Chicago estimated 18,836 people experienced homelessness last year compared with 6,139 in 2023, according to the city's annual tally released last summer.

Homelessness mainly surged due to the number of migrants arriving in the city. But as migrants find permanent housing, experts say the city's homeless population still faces a shortage of affordable housing and resources.

"The abatement of the migrant crisis doesn't mean that things are better for those experiencing homelessness," says Doug Schenkelberg, executive director at the Chicago Coalition to end Homelessness.

Extrapolating from 2022 data, the coalition estimated in December that 76,375 Chicagoans experienced homelessness throughout 2024, as opposed to the city's lower total that is intended to tally homelessness on a single day. The coalition's numbers excluded the 5,501 new arrivals seeking asylum and living in city shelters, but included residents couch surfing or doubling up in homes — in addition to using records of people accessing services and information from service providers and people living on the street.

Schenkelberg says the increase was not only due to lack of affordable housing, but also the challenge of earning a living wage income to afford housing.

In October, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that shelters specifically designated for newly arrived asylum seekers would close by the end of the year.

Now, the city plans to merge its shelter systems for asylum seekers and unhoused people into a unified network. Three city-run and two state-run migrant shelters have remained open into the new year and are becoming part of the One System Initiative intended for all residents experiencing homelessness starting this month.

"To really address homelessness, you need to make housing available," says Sendy Soto, the city's chief homelessness officer, "whether it's rental housing, subsidized housing or homeownership."

But in March, the Bring Chicago Home referendum failed. It would have used a real estate transfer tax on high-end properties to bring in dedicated money to tackle homelessness.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Housing Authority has recently faced protests for letting about 500 scattered-site units sit empty across the city and for moving slowly to make neglected ones livable while residents languish on waiting lists.

Searching for solutions

Family homelessness more than doubled in 13 communities affected by migrants, including Chicago, according to the national report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The impacts are often felt at school, says Chicago Teachers Union Housing Committee Chair Kevin Moore.

“If you do not have stable housing, it’s difficult to expect a child to come to school on a regular basis,” Moore says. “It’s hard to focus on school or work when you don’t know where you’ll be sleeping at the end of the day or where your next meal is coming from."

The teachers union has proposed measures aimed at housing in its next contract. CTU Vice President Jackson Potter says schools have historically had resources to provide students with bus passes, winter coats and other services, so helping with housing at school makes sense.

“Why wouldn’t we want to find ways to connect those families with housing services, too? " Potter says. "It’s people the parents already know and the children trust instead of having to run around and find these things.”

Previously, CTU secured funding for dedicated positions that helped connect students to resources like housing. The new proposals would expand those support roles, create affordable housing initiatives on vacant city lots and district property and offer housing support through school staff and services, among other initiatives. One measure calls for a collaborative effort between the city, Chicago Public Schools and CTU to house or provide rental assistance to 20,000 CPS students and their families by the end of the contract.

Contract negotiations between CTU and CPS stalled last month, with CPS’ Chief Talent Officer Ben Felton saying that there are “both financial and non-financial issues” that remain unresolved. The CTU is pushing to land a contract deal before a new, partly elected school board is seated Jan. 15.

According to Soto, the city hopes to address the affordable housing issue through tax increment financing, or TIF funds. There are also plans to explore a $2 million rental assistance program for Chicagoans. Soto says her office aims to have the application process finalized by the end of January and ready to present to the City Council soon after.

"There are a lot of new initiatives that we're building here," Soto says. "But most importantly, we're really trying to bring all of our city services together so we can address homelessness holistically."

But Schenkelberg said those initiatives aren't enough.

"What we need is deep, sustained funding to build permanent housing and pay for the support of services that people experiencing homelessness need," he says.