Over 500,000 people were homeless in the U.S. in 2015, according to federal data released Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development conducted a point-in-time survey in January and found that 565,000 people were homeless - roughly a quarter of them were children, reported Reuters.
It's a two percent drop from 2014 and an 11 percent decrease from 2007. However, major states like New York and California saw an increase in the rates of homelessness, and advocates say that the national decline is negligible.
"I am glad it's trending downward, but a 2 percent change (nationally) is pretty much flat," Nan Roman, president of Washington D.C.-based National Alliance to End Homelessness, told Reuters.
New York reported that its homeless population increased by nearly 10 percent from last year, and California said that its went up by 1.6 percent. Overall, 17 state posted increases while 33 states and the District of Columbia saw reductions. The biggest drops came in Florida, Texas, Georgia, Michigan and New Jersey.
Point-in-time surveys provide a realistic account of the number of homeless people sleeping in shelters and on the streets, but advocates say that the method doesn't take into account those who may be sleeping at a friends or relatives house, The Christian Science Monitor noted.
Advocates said that homelessness in cities increased as a result of the 2007 Great Recession and still hasn't improved due to a sluggish economic recovery, stagnant and falling wages, and political contempt and budget constraints for social welfare programs, according to RT.
"We are 7 million units short of affordable housing for low-income people - that's a big gap," Roman added.
The large homeless populations have forced some states and cities to declare states of emergencies, including Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that the city plans to spend $3 billion to build 15,000 new units for the homeless and mentally ill over the next 15 years.
Officials in Los Angeles, which has seen a 55 percent increase in homelessness since 2013, announced Wednesday that the city will open public buildings to people seeking shelter during upcoming winter months. HUD estimated that more than one-third of the chronically homeless in the U.S. reside in California.
HUD said that the Obama administration has made significant progress in its efforts to end homelessness, citing a 26 percent decrease in the unsheltered homeless population nationally since 2010, and a veteran homelessness population that has declined by 36 percent. Family homelessness went down by 19 percent, and chronic homelessness decreased 22 percent, HUD said.
"The Obama Administration has made an historic commitment to effectively end homelessness in this nation," said HUD Secretary Julian Castro. "Together with our partners across the federal government and communities from coast to coast, we have made tremendous progress toward our ambitious goals. But our work is far from finished. We have to continue making smart investments in the strategies that work so that everyone has a place to call home."
