For the first time since they started reporting in 2007, the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Central New York found the number of homeless people in families has been higher than the number of single individuals.
Housing and Homeless Coalition Director Megan Stuart said the 2024 data shifts the perspective on what it means to be unhoused in central New York.
"It really is a big shift in, you know, I think what people typically think of homelessness is single individuals, the folks you might see outside," Stuart said. "But really, what we're seeing now are a lot of families who've never experienced homelessness before, finding themselves in that situation and needing emergency shelter because they have nowhere else to go."
The coalition is in the process of collecting its 2025 data from Oswego, Cayuga and Onondaga Counties. Stuart says around 100 volunteers will be out collecting data from housing shelters and across each county looking for individuals sleeping or living outside. She says it's times like this that serve as a reminder of the value of community programming.
"I think one of the things to keep in mind, too, is people experiencing homelessness are part of this community," Stuart said. "They're our neighbors. There are friends there, you know, folks that are interwoven into this community. And it's our job to take care of each other."
Stuart anticipates that the number of homeless families will stay about the same as last year, which saw a 192% increase in the number of homeless families.
"We do think that the increase in family homelessness has slowed down but hasn't stopped," Stuart said. "So I don't think it's going to be we have one big spike in 2024 and 2025. It'll look normal again. I do anticipate seeing numbers close to what we saw last year."
The data collected from this point-in-time report is expected to be completed and published this spring.
