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Interactive: Texas' Homeless Population Declines

Interactive: Texas' Homeless Population Declines

Nearly 30,000 Texans were among more than 610,000 Americans who were homeless this year, according to a report released this month by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Texas was among the states with the largest decreases in the homeless population, according to the report. The state saw a 13 percent decrease since 2012 and a nearly 26 percent decrease since 2007. Still, Texas was one of five states that together accounted for more than half of the homeless people in the country. The others were California, New York, Florida and Massachusetts.

Nationally, homelessness has declined in recent years, according to the 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, which examined the homeless population on a single night in January 2013. About a quarter of the homeless people across the country were children. About 12 percent of homeless adults were veterans.

Use this interactive to learn about the homeless population in various parts of Texas in recent years.

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Year Homeless Sheltered Unsheltered Chronically Homeless
Sheltered

Total number staying in places such as emergency shelters or transitional housing programs.

Unsheltered

Total number who primarily sleep in places such as cars, parks, bus stations or abandoned buildings.

Chronically Homeless

Total number who have a disability (or are in a family in which the head of household has a disability) and who have either been continuously homeless for at least a year or experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.

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