States That Help Homeless People the Most

There are over 650,000 people experiencing homelessness in the United States, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Unhoused individuals struggle to get the bare minimum when it comes to food and health care, and most find it difficult to get out of the situation in part because it is hard to find a job or stable housing, considering the expensive rental market. Alongside issues such as high rates of mental illness, this combination of factors has created a situation where nearly one-third of all homeless people experience chronic patterns of homelessness, the highest rate since data was first recorded in 2007.

While each state has programs in place to curb homelessness, some states are still better than others at helping their most desperate residents. To highlight the states doing the best job to help the homeless and the ones that need to improve the most, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states based on 20 key metrics. The data set ranges from the share of unsheltered homeless individuals to the amount of work hours needed to afford housing to the presence of anti-homeless policies.

If you want to support this cause but don’t know where to donate, check out our picks for the Best Charities for Homeless Support in 2024.

• Main Findings
• Methodology

Main Findings

States That Help Homeless People the Most

Overall Rank*	State	Total Score	Shelters & Housing Support Rank	Homeless Youth Support Rank	Food & Health Support Rank
1	Connecticut	68.20	1	16	4
2	Illinois	63.15	2	18	23
3	North Dakota	61.51	3	39	1
4	Maryland	59.29	6	17	9
5	New York	56.69	5	21	20
6	Indiana	55.64	24	6	22
7	Massachusetts	55.12	7	24	11
8	Minnesota	54.53	17	22	3
9	Wyoming	54.46	12	7	27
10	Montana	54.31	35	3	15
11	Pennsylvania	53.82	21	19	6
12	Kentucky	53.31	26	9	12
13	Ohio	52.87	13	41	2
14	Oregon	51.98	44	2	16
15	Missouri	51.83	28	15	8
16	Colorado	51.39	32	12	5
17	Virginia	50.11	8	47	19
18	Utah	50.08	33	13	10
19	West Virginia	50.07	22	25	13
20	New Jersey	49.80	4	48	32
21	California	49.47	43	1	30
22	Michigan	49.21	11	50	18
23	Washington	49.14	34	11	17
24	Rhode Island	48.49	16	46	14
25	Hawaii	48.30	41	4	35
26	Mississippi	48.18	10	31	31
27	Nebraska	48.12	9	38	28
28	Vermont	47.62	14	44	25
29	Maine	47.42	18	23	36
30	Delaware	44.74	27	20	39
31	Iowa	44.63	19	43	29
32	Oklahoma	44.23	23	32	33
33	New Mexico	44.23	42	14	26
34	Alaska	44.18	40	33	7
35	Kansas	43.98	20	35	37
36	Texas	42.77	29	5	50
37	Wisconsin	42.70	15	49	41
38	New Hampshire	42.06	37	40	21
39	South Dakota	41.71	25	34	38
40	Arkansas	40.82	30	28	40
41	Louisiana	40.56	36	29	34
42	Idaho	38.08	47	45	24
43	Florida	37.58	46	10	45
44	Nevada	36.89	49	8	43
45	North Carolina	35.06	39	36	44
46	Alabama	32.96	31	37	48
47	Arizona	32.87	48	27	42
48	South Carolina	30.95	38	30	49
49	Georgia	30.14	45	42	47
50	Tennessee	28.72	50	26	46

Notes: *1 = Best

With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

Methodology

In order to determine the most supportive states for the homeless, SmileHub compared the 50 states across three key dimensions: 1) Shelters & Housing Support, 2) Homeless Youth Support and 3) Food & Health Support.

We evaluated those dimensions using 20 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of homeless support. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for population differences across states.

We then determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

Shelters & Housing Support - Total Points: 45

• Year-Round Beds per Population Experiencing Homelessness: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Public Housing Agencies per Population Experiencing Homelessness: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: Public housing agencies offer advice and help with finding affordable housing, shelter, and information about housing vouchers for vulnerable populations.

• Continuum of Care Program Grants: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

• Presence of Source-of-Income Non-Discrimination Laws: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This is a binary metric:
  
  • 1 - Statewide free college tuition program enacted with few eligibility limits.
  • 0.5 – The state has non-discrimination laws that offer limited or weakened protections to people who use housing vouchers.
  • 0 – The state does not have laws that protect people who use housing vouchers.

• Emergency Housing Voucher Allocation per Population Experiencing Homelessness: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: The Emergency Housing Voucher Program provides housing choice vouchers to local Public Housing Agencies in order to assist individuals and families who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking, or were recently homeless or have a high risk of housing instability.

• Share of Unsheltered Homeless Individuals: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Share of Chronically Homeless Individuals: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: Chronically homeless individuals include people who have experienced long-term or repeated incidents of homelessness.

• Weekly Hours Required at Minimum Wage to Afford a 0-Bedroom Rental Home at Fair Market Price: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Housing Trust Fund Allocation per Population Experiencing Homelessness: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: The Housing Trust Fund (HTF) provides grants to states to produce and preserve affordable housing for extremely low- and very low-income households including those experiencing homelessness.

Homeless Youth Support - Total Points: 15

• Share of Homeless Individuals Under the Age of 18: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Presence of State Laws to Increase High School Graduation Rate for Homeless Youth: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This is a binary metric:
  
  • 1 – This state has laws that help homeless youth graduate high school.
  • 0 – This state does not have laws to help homeless youth graduate high school.

• Presence of State Laws that Allow Minors to Enter into Contracts for Housing/Shelter Support: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This is a binary metric:
  
  • 1 – This state has laws that allow unaccompanied homeless minors to consent to shelter services.
  • 0 – This state does not have laws that allow unaccompanied homeless minors to consent to shelter services.

Food & Health Support - Total Points: 40

• Charities that Support the Homeless per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Presence of an Expanded Medicaid Policy: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: In a state with an expanded Medicaid policy, income alone is enough to qualify for Medicaid. In states without an expanded policy, multiple factors, including income, disability status, and household size must be considered, and the total list of requirements can vary by state.
  This is a binary metric:
  
  • 1 - This state has implemented an expanded Medicaid policy.
  • 0 - This state has not implemented an expanded Medicaid policy.

• Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Facilities per Population Experiencing Homelessness: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: Includes all residential non-hospital facilities that provide short-term (30 days or less), long-term (more than 30 days) and detoxification services.

• Health Care Centers per Population Experiencing Homelessness: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Anti-Homeless Policies: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on the “Housing not Handcuffs 2021: State Law Supplement”, which includes laws updated as of 2020. Anti-Homeless policies include laws that prohibit panhandling, sleeping in public, loitering, sleeping in a vehicle, and more that often disproportionately harm homeless individuals who lack other options.

• Mental Health Counselors per Capita: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Unemployment Rate: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

• Food Insecurity Rate: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Homeless Shelters Directory, Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Poverty & Race Research Action Council, National Low Income Housing Coalition, SchoolHouse Connection, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Homelessness Law Center, and U.S. Department of Agriculture.