As More Than 350 Cities Criminalize Sleeping Outside, Durham Prioritizes Real-Time Data, Rapid Housing and Upstream Prevention
Unsheltered homelessness has become a growing issue for many cities across the U.S., and that has caused one city to take a decidedly different approach to addressing the problem.
Durham, North Carolina, has seen its unsheltered homeless population grow by a massive 300% between 2018 and 2024, according to the Urban Ministries of Durham. There were more than 1,600 people who were homeless in the city as of May 31, 2026, including about 600 living unsheltered. The number of people living unsheltered has increased by about 25% year over year, according to local data.
The growth of homelessness has caused headaches for people who are homeless and the surrounding community alike. For instance, police officers have conducted multiple sweeps in local parks, only for the disrupted encampments to return. Meanwhile, people who are homeless say they have had personal items like clothes and sentimental items trashed during the sweeps…