FORT WORTH, Texas — Total homelessness fell 12% in Tarrant County from 2023 to 2024, according to new data the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition published Wednesday.
Scores of volunteers collected the information on January 25 during a nationwide, annual effort to locate, count, and survey people experiencing homelessness. Almost 2,400 people were living in shelters, transitional housing, or on Tarrant County streets that day.
More than 2,700 people were counted homeless around Fort Worth in 2023, a tally 29% higher than the final pre-pandemic count in 2020. Such spikes had been rare in Tarrant County, despite its rapid growth.
The latest improvement is a small relief to those who worried the 2023 count might indicate the beginning of a problematic trend.
"It's very, very positive," Tarrant County Homeless Coalition director Lauren King said. "I love to see a 12% decrease. It does make me want to look back in more detail at 2023 and the factors that caused that."
King speculates some people who relied on federal aid boosted during the pandemic "fell off the cliff" in 2023 when such programs expired. At the same time, inflation and rent prices soared.
"It makes me wonder... if now they've kind of rebounded and been able to recover on their own," King said. "Not that (inflation and rent) have gone down, but you had a lot of things that were hitting people for the first time and perhaps that's kind of leveled out or they've been able to adjust more."
It will take more data to confirm King's theory, she says. But she is confident this year's tally proves public investment in housing can decrease the number of people experiencing homelessness.
King stressed that advocates must continue to engage landlords and convince them to give some people who've experienced homelessness a second chance at permanent housing. Prior homelessness can sometimes disqualify people from applying to rent an apartment.
"We have seen over and over and over again that, when we invest in housing - both through capital and rental assistance - we can get people off the street," King said. "It makes a difference and the number goes down."
Key in 2024, the number of family units experiencing homelessness fell by 33%. Veteran homelessness dropped by 14%.
The data indicates more people who do not have permanent housing are staying in shelters rather than on the streets, compared to 2023.
About 60% of people experiencing homelessness during the point-in-time count identified as male. About 11% of the people counted homeless were in a family unit, typically a single mother with two children.
About 5% of people counted homeless were veterans and 10% were children.
"This is a population of individuals that deserve our love and attention," Fort Worth mayor Mattie Parker said. "As a community, we should be measured on how we take care of our most vulnerable."
Read the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition's full report here.