
Homeless population in Lawrence grew more than 4 times faster than national average

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World
The city-run campsite "New Beginnings" is pictured on Dec.12 , 2023, in North Lawrence. The city-sanctioned part is behind the fence at the top of the photo. The tents surrounding it are in an unsanctioned area.
Lawrence’s homeless population in 2023 increased more than four times faster than the national rate, making the city and the county home to one of the nation’s most rapidly growing homeless populations, according to a new federal report.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday released its 2023 Homeless Assessment report, which provides a glimpse at homeless totals across the country.
As the Journal-World reported in October, Lawrence and Douglas County’s homeless number grew 51% from a year ago, making it the fastest-growing site in Kansas. But until HUD released its new report on Friday, we had little idea how Lawrence’s homeless growth ranked nationally.
Now we do, but with some caveats.
Lawrence’s growth rate of 51% compares to a 12% national growth rate for the last year, making Lawrence’s growth rate about four times higher than the national rate.
Another way to look at it is that about 20 of 10,000 people in America were experiencing homelessness when communities did their counts in January 2023. In Lawrence/Douglas County, about 29 of every 10,000 residents were experiencing homelessness. That’s about a 45% difference between the per capita rates of Lawrence/Douglas County and the nation.
With all that said, though, Lawrence did not have the fastest-growing homeless population in the country, and of course, it is nowhere close to having the largest in terms of actual numbers.
Lawrence’s growth rate of 51% would rank it as the 33rd-fastest-growing homeless population of 385 areas that are measured.
However, this is where a caveat should be inserted. That 33rd-fastest ranking is accurate if Lawrence were its own reporting entity. But Lawrence is not its own reporting entity. It does not show up individually on the list of 385 communities in the HUD report. Rather, Lawrence’s numbers are included in the Kansas Balance of State numbers, which includes all of Kansas except for Wyandotte, Johnson, Sedgwick and Shawnee counties.
Lawrence and Douglas County’s individual numbers are known, though, because the organization that conducts the Balance of State Count does a specific count for the county and provides those numbers to local government leaders, as the Journal-World reported in October.
So, it would be difficult to say definitively that Lawrence was the 33rd fastest growing homeless community in the country because there may be other situations like Lawrence where a fast-growing community is lumped into a much larger area that doesn’t produce nearly as high of a growth rate. (The growth rate in the Kansas Balance of State was 16.4%, even though Lawrence and Douglas County’s rate was 51%.)
What is safe to say is that Lawrence had one of the fastest-growing homeless populations in the country, and likely was among the top 10% fastest-growing locations in the nation.
Here’s a look at some other numbers from the HUD report:
• Homelessness in the U.S. hit a new record, in terms of total number of people. There were approximately 653,100 people counted during the January survey. That is the highest number since HUD started the point-in-time count in 2007.
• Black individuals continue to experience homelessness at rates far greater than average. Black individuals made up 37% of all people experiencing homelessness, even though the Black population is just 13% of the total U.S. population.
• The Asian population had the fastest growth rate of homelessness of any racial or ethnic group in the country. There was a 40% increase in the number of Asian or Asian Americans who were homeless in the last year.
• In terms of total numbers, Hispanics had the largest increase in homelessness during the last year. The number of Hispanics counted in the 2023 survey was about 39,000 higher than what was counted in the 2022 survey. That was a 28% growth rate.
• 60% of the people who were homeless during the one-night survey had a shelter, such as an emergency shelter, transitional housing or a safe haven program. The remaining 40% were unsheltered and living in “places not meant for human habitation,” according to the HUD report.
• 72% of people experiencing homelessness lived in households that did not have children present.
• The Salem County area of New Jersey had the largest percentage increase of homeless of any area measured in the HUD report, up 235%. However, its homeless population was relatively small, totaling 67 people, up from 20 a year earlier. In terms of larger communities, Albuquerque, New Mexico, had one of the larger increases, growing 87% to 2,394 individuals in 2023. Also of note, multiple areas of Oklahoma are experiencing rapid increases in homelessness. Of the 25 fastest-growing areas of homelessness, three of them were in Oklahoma.
The report provided detailed information on 385 communities, metro areas or other sites across the country. Here’s a look at tallies from other communities of interest to Lawrence, including their growth rate and the total number of people in homelessness.
• Fayetteville/Northwest Arkansas: up 27.1%, 436 people
• Denver metro area: up 46%, 10,054 people
• Colorado Springs area: down 7.4%, 1,302 people
• Fort Collins/Loveland, Colo. area: up 11.3%, 882 people
• Colorado Balance of State: up 67.3%, 2,201 people
• Sioux City, Iowa area: up 30.1%, 276 people
• Des Moines, Iowa area: up 6.2%, 644 people
• Iowa Balance of State: up 8.2%, 1,733 people
• Wichita/Sedgwick County: up 1.7%, 702 people
• Topeka/Shawnee County: up 11.5%, 407 people
• Johnson County: up 10.8%, 235 people
• Kansas Balance of State: up 16.4%, 1,082 people
• Kansas City, Mo./Kansas City, Kan.: up 11.3%, 1,986 people
• St. Joseph, Mo. area.: up 18.2%, 175 people
• Joplin, Mo. area: up 10.3%, 255 people
• Springfield, Mo. area: up 19.3%, 617 people
• St. Charles Mo. area: down 7%, 395 people
• City of St. Louis: up 9.1%, 1,252 people
• County of St. Louis: up 20.2%, 446 people
• Missouri Balance of State: up 14%, 1,792 people
• Lincoln, Neb. area: up 2.6%, 429 people
• Omaha, Neb. area: up 9.5%, 1,475 people
• Nebraska Balance of State: up 15.7%, 558 people
• North Central Oklahoma area: 0%, 214 people
• Tulsa, Okla. area: up 6.5%, 1,133 people
• Oklahoma City area: up 7.2%, 1,436 people
• Norman, Okla. area: up 8.1%, 213 people
• Northeast Okla. area: up 17.7%, 331 people
• Southwest Okla. area: up 205.2%, 409 people
• Southeastern Okla. area: up 84.8%, 573 people
• Oklahoma Balance of State: up 56.9%, 339 people