Rising Rents Drive Homelessness 3.7% Higher in Ohio

The affordable housing shortage is steadily increasing homelessness in Ohio, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

On one night in January 2025, at least 12,196 Ohioans were homeless, according to the most recent Point in Time count data recently released as part of HUD’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report. That represents an increase of 3.7 percent from the previous year’s homelessness count.

Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said the lack of affordable housing – combined with rising prices for food, transportation, child care, healthcare, and other necessities – is forcing more Ohioans into homelessness.

“Homelessness is primarily a housing problem. When rents rise faster than incomes, homelessness increases,” she said, noting that two-bedroom rents increased 23 percent in Ohio between 2021 and 2026, according to Apartment List Rent Estimates.

“Rising rents don’t just push people into homelessness. They make it harder to get people out of homelessness. So at the same time more people are becoming homeless, fewer people are getting housed,” she said.

Nationally, homelessness decreased 3.3 percent over the past year. However, looking at the larger overall national trend, homelessness increased by 26.3 percent between 2013-2025.

Riegel said Ohio’s local, state, and federal policymakers still have the opportunity to enact bold policies to prevent homelessness from getting out of control as it has in some parts of the U.S.

“The good news is that it’s not too late to address Ohio’s housing affordability problem. A great start would be passing the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan bill that is currently pending in Congress. The state legislature should safeguard the Ohio Housing Trust Fund, expand the Ohio Low Income Housing Tax Credit, and enact tenant protections,” she said.

Key Ohio findings from HUD's AHAR report: