Fewer people in Detroit are experiencing homelessness, but the number who are unsheltered is up

The number of unhoused people has decreased significantly from 2015 to 2024, but the number who are living in parks, cars or abandoned buildings has rapidly increased since the pandemic.

A series of bar charts shows the number of unhoused people in Detroit that reported having shelter and were unsheltered. The survey is done in one night each year, which could effect the tally. In 2015, there were 2,446 sheltered, and 151 unsheltered, unhoused folks. In 2024, that decreased to 1,420 sheltered, and 305 unsheltered, unhoused people.
Data comes from the annual Point‐in‐Time count of people experiencing homelessness on one night in January. The survey was conducted by the Detroit Continuum of Care, the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, and the City of Detroit. “Sheltered” includes unhoused persons in an emergency shelter, transitional housing program for the homeless, or a Safe Haven program. "Unsheltered" data was not gathered every year.
Chart: The Conversation, CC-BY-NDSource: Detroit Continuum of Care, the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, and the City of Detroit.Get the dataDownload imageCreated with Datawrapper