COLUMBUS — Homelessness has been an ongoing issue across the state and country. 

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2024 Point-in-Time Homeless Report

  • Among Ohio’s biggest cities, Cincinnati saw the largest year-over-year jump of nearly 7%

  • As a whole, Ohio’s 3% increase was far below the national jump of 18%

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2024 Point-in-Time Homeless Report, showing that Ohio’s homeless population has risen by 3.3% in the last year.

“We need more affordable housing, that is the number one thing that we need,” said Twila Wellmaker with the Community Shelter Board.

The report says 11,759 people are homeless in Ohio, about 400 more than there were in 2023.

Among Ohio’s biggest cities, Cincinnati saw the largest year-over-year jump of nearly 7%.

While Cleveland’s numbers stayed level.

As a whole, Ohio’s 3% increase was far below the national jump of 18%.

With states such as Illinois, Massachusetts and New York each seeing more than 50% increases.

But Twila Wellmaker with the community shelter board says those numbers don’t tell the whole story.

“We’re seeing people who have been unhoused for a year or more, which makes them chronic,” Wellmaker said.

The report comes just days after the city of Columbus shut down multiple homeless camps in hopes of moving more of the city’s homeless population inside.

The Community Shelter Board said it’s trying to assist the people who are impacted.

“What people typically do is they move from one place to another," Wellmaker said. "We’ve been able to go out and work with a lot of those campers recently, those camps that have been remediated, and get them moved into non-congregant housing settings."

Meanwhile, in just a couple weeks, the Community Shelter Board will do its own homeless count, and Wellmaker is bracing for what those numbers may show.

“I think we’ll continue to see high numbers, high rates of homelessness in Columbus, because our numbers, as I said, have increased over the past couple years, so I don’t necessarily know that we’ll see a decrease, but it all goes back to the lack of affordable housing,” Wellmaker said.

Wellmaker said, right now, the Community Shelter Board is seeing a lot more people come into its system who are first-time homeless who have never been faced with housing instability before. She said they are looking for volunteers to help with their homeless count on Jan. 23.

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