This story is from Young, Unhoused and Unseen, a podcast production from WHYY News and Temple University’s Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting.

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Thousands of people are experiencing homelessness across the Delaware Valley.

This year’s point-in-time counts of people experiencing homelessness recorded more than 700 people living unsheltered in Philadelphia, a total of more than 200 in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware counties, close to 200 in the state of Delaware, and over 700 across nine counties in South Jersey.

The unsheltered numbers in point-in-time counts, which are conducted on a single night each January, are likely underestimates, said Candice Player, vice president of advocacy, public policy, and street outreach at the Philly-based nonprofit Project HOME.

“That number comes to us from volunteers who go out on the night of the PIT count and just look and see who appears to be homeless on that night,” Player said. “It doesn’t include people who are likely sleeping in abandoned buildings or maybe in a car and hard to detect. It doesn’t include people who are couch surfing.”

Here’s a look at homelessness in the Philadelphia region, by the numbers.

8

Of people who experience homelessness in Philly, more than 17% are children under the age of 18, and over 8% are youth ages 18 to 24, according to the city’s 2023 Point-in-Time Count.

25 – 40

An estimated 25% to 40% of Philadelphia youth and young adults experiencing homelessness are LGBTQ+, according to the city’s point-in-time counts.

32

In 2022, 32% of youth and young adults served by the city were pregnant or parenting.

72

In Philadelphia, 72% of people who the city documented experiencing homelessness in 2022 were Black, compared to around 40% of the city’s overall population.

1,234

In 2023, more than 1,000 young Philadelphians were recorded as unhoused, according to the city’s Point-in-Time Count.

40,003

More than 40,000 Pennsylvania students were experiencing homelessness during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the state Department of Education.

7.3 million

Across the country, the shortage of affordable homes is most severe for renters with low income — to the tune of more than 7 million units, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.