ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Although the overall homeless population decreased by 7.9% in 2025 to total of 145,560, an analysis released by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Thursday showed that homelessness still increased in 17 out of 25 regions of New York State. And children comprise 31.7% of the homeless, DiNapoli warned, more than double the national average of 18%.
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And while the number of homeless New Yorkers dropped between 2024 and 2025—owing at least in part to new federal immigration policies—that followed increases of 39.1% from 2022 to 2023, and 53.1% from 2023 to 2024. In May, the latest federal figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development tallied 7.3 homeless New Yorkers for every 1,000 residents as of January 2025, which outranked every other state.
According to HUD, 145,560 New Yorkers were homeless during a single night in January 2025. And although we have the highest rate of homelessness, state housing grants aren’t keeping pace with the rising cost of rent. Because state regulations limit monthly public assistance grants for rent to amounts set decades ago, according to the Coalition for the Homeless, low-income residents are forced into overcrowded shelters or expensive motels.
While lower numbers in New York City drove that overall decline from 2024, the ongoing housing crisis still fueled increases throughout much of the state. In and around Troy, the largest city in Rensselaer County, the year-over-year increase was 55.2%, for example. In the area of Columbia and Greene Counties, it was 58.9%. That combined upper Hudson Valley growth represented 262 more homeless New Yorkers there in 2025 than in 2024…