More than 58,000 Chicagoans experienced homelessness, new report says

More than 58,000 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2024, according to a new report from the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness. The new data reveals homelessness in the city is more widespread than official counts show.

The report provides a stark contrast to the annual “point-in-time” count, a snapshot of the number of people experiencing homelessness in a single night, conducted each year by the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services. That count found that about 19,000 people were homeless in 2024. The city’s next point-in-time count will take place Thursday night.

“The point-in-time count is flawed to begin with,” said M Nelsen, manager of city policy for the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness. “It happens one night a year, in January. It’s led by volunteers, and it’s only going by the definition of homelessness as people who stay in emergency shelters or other places not meant for human habitation.”

Nelsen said volunteers may miss people living in abandoned buildings or in cars, or those couchsurfing or staying at friends’ or relatives’ homes, what’s known as “doubled up.” Doubled-up homelessness, the report shows, is nearly three times more common than street and shelter homelessness in Chicago.

The Coalition’s analysis found that 58,625 Chicagoans experienced homelessness in 2024, more than three times greater than the 18,836 reported by city officials for that year. The 2025 point-in-time count was 7,452 — a decrease resulting from fewer migrants seeking shelter than in 2024. The Coalition will not have the 2025 tally until the end of this year, due to a delay in data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources, Nelsen said.

“Both the estimate from the [Coalition] report and the estimate from the 2024 [point-in-time] data are helpful. They represent different things, and we use these data points in different ways in our planning,” a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services said in a statement. The spokesperson added that the “point-in-time” count uses definitions of homelessness set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The report also showed that Black Chicagoans are disproportionately impacted, with more than 12,000 in shelters or on the streets and nearly 21,000 doubled up. While Black Chicagoans make up less than one-third of Chicago’s population, they account for more than half of those experiencing homelessness.

Nelsen said the overall undercount of homeless Chicagoans matters because the point-in-time count is what is often used by lawmakers to create policies and allocate resources to combat homelessness.

“When we limit our scope and understanding of homelessness, we’re not able to target resources and interventions to everyone who’s in need of those resources,” Nelsen said. “If we are basing what our resource allocation is on that [point-in-time] number, that is less than a third of the whole comprehensive estimate.”

Nelsen said in an average year, Chicago’s federally mandated point-in-time count shows between 6,000 and 7,000 people living on the streets or staying in shelters. The numbers dipped in the years following the pandemic due to the COVID Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, initially planned through 2030. But the Trump administration has announced those funds will run out this year, Nelsen said.

The Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness report also noted that there were more than 109,000 housing units left vacant in 2024 as the number of people experiencing homelessness in Chicago increased.

“We do not have a lack of housing; we have a lack of affordable and accessible housing,” Nelsen said. “So often we kind of shrug our shoulders about homelessness and think, ‘Well, we don’t have the resources.’ We do. We’re just not using them. We’re not allocating them. Policy is not addressing that lack of access.”

Nelsen also said a dedicated city fund — such as the one included in the "Bring Chicago Home" ballot initiative in early 2024 — is needed to prevent and end homelessness.

The report also recommends advocating against policies that criminalize homelessness.

David Wywialowski, who leads outreach for homelessness nonprofit The Night Ministry, said volunteers and staff at his organization will help with the point-in-time count this Thursday. For safety reasons, counters are instructed not to go into abandoned buildings or disturb people staying in tents, he said.

“We know the number is larger than what we’re actually going to count this Thursday, so I appreciate this more in-depth look at how many people are really [homeless],” Wywialowski said.

He added that The Night Ministry provides resources to hundreds of homeless people in tent encampments, in neighborhoods and at Chicago Transit Authority stations on a given day.