West Virginia Sees Significant Decline in Chronic Homelessness

December 26, 2022

Mountaineer News

Community Awareness

West Virginia is among the top three states that saw the greatest percentage decline in its population of people experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness over the past 15 years, according to a new annual homeless assessment report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Connecticut, West Virginia and Montana saw the largest percentage declines between 2007 and 2022, according to HUD’s assessment. Both West Virginia and Montana saw an 82% decline, and Connecticut saw an 89% decline.

In total, the report estimates 1,375 people are experiencing homelessness in West Virginia as of this year. Of the 1,375, West Virginia is estimated to have 204 individuals experiencing chronic patterns of homelessness in the state, the HUD assessment found. The size of the state’s homeless population ranks among the lowest nationally, with only Mississippi (1,196 people), Wyoming (648 people) and North Dakota (610 people) recording lower estimates. California has the largest population of homeless individuals in the nation by far, with an estimated 171,521 individuals.

The size of West Virginia’s homeless population has trended down over the last decade, dropping from roughly 2,400 individuals in 2012 to 1,341 in 2020. Point-in-time counts can be particularly tricky in West Virginia, however. The rural terrain and “inability to reach hidden homeless” individuals can pose challenges when completing the Point in Time count in the Mountain State, according to a 2014 progress and recommendations report from the West Virginia Interagency Council on Homelessness.

“The PIT relies on volunteers to find those experiencing homelessness and may miss people who do not appear to be homeless, who are hidden, or who do not want to be counted,” the 2014 report stated. “For these reasons, the PIT undercounts the homeless population and should be considered the minimum number of people that are homeless.”

Nationwide, the report found 582,462 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2022 – a 0.3% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness during the last point in time count in 2020. The most significant increases in homelessness over the last two years occurred among individuals, people with disabilities experiencing long-term homelessness and people in unsheltered settings. “The number of chronically homeless individuals (individuals with disabilities experiencing homelessness for long periods of time) increased by 16% between 2020 and 2022,” HUD wrote in a news release this week.