There’s a type of homelessness that doesn’t show up in counts and isn’t self-reported. It’s called hidden homelessness, and it’s a term used to describe couch surfing, sleeping in cars, motels, sheds, or overcrowded homes–by ignoring this, policymakers are neglecting the plight of an unthinkable amount of people. For example, U.S. public schools identified 1.1 million homeless students in 2021. In the same year, about 326,000 people experienced homelessness in the United States, according to HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report. This is the kind of thing that blows your mind. Accurate homelessness counting is practically impossible.

When you think of homelessness, you need to remember this: by the very nature of not having a home, homeless people are hard to gather data on. For that reason, this problem goes so much deeper than we, or policymakers, know.

What do you think of this? Leave your thoughts.