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Homelessness in the United States continued to rise this year, driven by soaring rates of homelessness in California, according to a new federal report that could prompt long-promised action for people living in the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Homelessness rose 2.7 percent from 2018 to 2019, according to the annual assessment by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (Fadulu, 12/20)

A decline in homelessness in 29 states, as well as the District of Columbia, was offset by a spike in California of 21,000 people, or 16.4 percent, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday — evidence that homelessness in the nation’s most populous state is “at a crisis level and needs to be addressed by local and state leaders with crisis-like urgency,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement. California leaders and advocacy groups share federal officials’ alarm over the state’s outsize role in that trend. But there’s significant disagreement over how to tackle the issue as the president singles out cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles as problems, clashing with a liberal state that often fights his policies. (Knowles, 12/21)

Homelessness among veterans fell 2.1 percent and homelessness among children fell 4.8 percent. "As we look across our nation, we see great progress, but we're also seeing a continued increase in street homelessness along our West Coast where the cost of housing is extremely high,"  HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in the statement. (Frazin, 12/21)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said homelessness and housing are among his foremost agenda items. In September, a Public Policy Institute of California survey of likely voters found that homelessness and the economy were their top statewide issues. Responding to Friday's HUD data, Newsom said by email that the federal government "must step up" with more funding. "Without federal leadership, California is making historic investments," he said. "But we have work to do and we need the federal government to do its part.” (Romero, 12/20)

The data comes after the Trump administration sent a team of officials on a "fact finding" trip to California in September to learn more about homelessness in Los Angeles. The homeless population in Los Angeles County increased to almost 60,000 people in 2019, despite major investment in combating the crisis, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said in a June report. (Holcombe, 12/21)

Homelessness is Los Angeles’s defining crisis. Income inequality, a shortage of housing, failing mental health services and drug addiction all contribute to growing scenes of squalor across America’s second-largest city. The federal government recently estimated that a nearly 3 percent rise in homelessness nationwide this year was driven mostly by California. Yet it does not affect everyone equally. The historic displacement and fracturing of black communities in South Los Angeles have pushed black Angelenos like Mr. Wynn onto the streets at more than eight times the rate of other groups. In interviews with more than a dozen black men who are homeless in Los Angeles, the bitter inheritance of racism came up again and again. (Patel, Arango, Singhvi and Huang, 12/22)

More than 25,000 Texans are experiencing homelessness. Their struggles to live without homes have received increased attention amid several recent debates over how best to address homelessness — and help people experiencing it. Gov. Greg Abbott and Austin Mayor Steve Adler have feuded over that city’s response to homelessness, and city officials are dealing with how to address homeless populations in their own regions. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump tapped the founding president of a shelter in San Antonio to lead the entity that coordinates with federal and local agencies to address homelessness on a national level. (Menchaca, 12/23)

A nonprofit advocacy group says the number of people experiencing homelessness in New Hampshire has dropped in the last two years, though homelessness among students and in some counties is on the rise. The New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness bases some of their calculations on counts taken every January across the state. These suggest overall homelessness has decreased by five percent, but Coalition director Cathy Kuhn says the homelessness count from January 2019 doesn't reflect the increasing demand on shelters. (Gibson, 12/19)

When Alice Carter died Wednesday after collapsing on a Northwest Washington street, there was no immediate outcry. She had slept on 17th Street north of Q Street for at least 15 years, an advocate said, a transgender woman struggling with addiction and mental-health issues. She recently secured housing through an assistance program, but it wasn’t enough to save her after a life led on the margins. (Moyer, 12/20)

On Friday, Miami will honor the lives of homeless people lost died this year due to violence, drug use, and health complications at the National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Homelessness remains a critical issue across South Florida, and the holidays are often seen as an opportunity for individuals to support those most in need. According to a 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), more than 30,000 people experience homelessness on any given day in Florida. These include the elderly, veterans and children. For the homeless, the holidays present tough challenges: finding a place to sleep, food and clothes. (Martinez, 12/20)

It doesn’t take long to give away 1,000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in San Francisco. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” said a man in a wheelchair on Turk Street, who got one of them, along with a toothbrush, a pair of gloves and some cookies. A woman in a green tent got one, and the woman in the red tent next door got one, and a man with a shopping cart full of dismantled bicycles got two, because he said he was very hungry. (Rubenstein, 12/22)

The children and parents awoke Sunday in homeless shelters around Greater Boston and boarded school buses, some with no idea where they were going other than to a Christmas event. As they entered the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, solemn faces broke into wide smiles and dropped jaws as they stepped onto a red carpet toward people waving and applauding them, along with extravagantly costumed characters — Disney princesses and Superman, Star Wars storm troopers and the Incredibles — all there to welcome them. Snowflake confetti fluttered. Lights sparkled. Parents dance-walked to the upbeat Christmas tunes, filming their children’s faces on phones, some with tears in their eyes. (Martin, 12/22)

Patrick Lupien and Mariah LeMieux-Lupien knew they were going to be evicted, because they hadn’t paid rent on their apartment in Biddeford, Maine, for two months. The lapse was a matter of basic math: As Mariah put it, when you don’t have it, you don’t have it. They had four special-needs children, so it was important to stick to routine as much as possible. Patrick, who had a full-time IT job that paid about $40,000 a year, kept going to work. Every morning, Mariah set out the same cereal bowls and 4-year-old Laya’s favorite pink spoon. (Greenberg and Clark, 12/21)