More than 2,550 Ohioans in Franklin County experienced homelessness in January, according to report
(Stock photo)
A record-high number of people in Franklin County experienced homelessness earlier this year, according to a new report.
Franklin County's annual Point-in-Time Count identified 2,556 people experiencing homelessness — a 7.4% increase from 2024.
Point-in-Time counts are one-night estimates of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness that are conducted nationwide in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Franklin County's count took place on Jan. 23.
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'When you are not building out enough infrastructure and diversity of infrastructure as you're growing … or if the planning isn't being caught up to that economic growth, to that population boom — what ends up happening is that housing becomes a commodity,' said Shannon Isom, executive director of the Community Shelter Board. 'With all commodities, when you have a scarcity, it also allows for prices to go up. When prices go up, people are literally being priced out, which is exactly what's happening right now.'
Individual sheltered homelessness went up by 14% compared to 2024 while the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness decreased by 12%, according to the report.
A little more than half of people experiencing homelessness were men (57%), 42% were women and 1% were non-binary. 55% were Black, 33% were white and 3% were Hispanic, according to the report.
There was a 31% increase in unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness, a 14% increase in single adults experiencing homelessness, and a 7% increase in veterans experiencing homelessness, according to the report.
There was a 21% decrease in people with severe mental illness experiencing homelessness, a 31% decrease in the number of domestic violence survivors experiencing homelessness, and a 2% decrease in the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness, according to the report.
Franklin County is Ohio's most populous county with 1,356,303 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and the region is projected to experience 16% of overall homelessness by 2028, Isom said.
Ohioans need to be making at least $20.81 an hour working a full-time job to be able to afford a 'modest' two-bedroom apartment, according to a report last year by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.
Forty percent of people experiencing homelessness are employed, Isom said.
'There's just not enough homes, there's just not enough real estate,' she said. 'It's difficult to live here within this region, again, because of the commodification of housing.'
There were 11,759 people experiencing homelessness in Ohio last year, according to HUD's annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky.
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