Homelessness fell across New York from 2024 to 2025, according to a new report from the state Comptroller’s Office, but four counties in the Capital Region are seeing the opposite trend, with some of the steepest increases reported in the state.
Rensselaer, Schenectady, Greene and Columbia counties posted the largest year-over-year jumps in reported homelessness statewide, even as the overall number of homeless New Yorkers declined, the report found.
The trend is one advocates say they’re witnessing firsthand.
“Those statistics don’t surprise me. From what we see day to day, the needs are only growing,” said Jenn Hyde, executive director of Catholic Charities Tri-County Services, which operates in Schenectady and Rensselaer counties.
Hyde said rising costs are pushing more families to the brink.
“The cost in the community just to survive is so much higher, food costs, electrical costs, transportation costs,” Hyde said. “People just can’t make ends meet anymore, and they’re falling a bit short on their rent.”
The report also found that nearly 40% of homeless individuals in Rensselaer County are children — the highest rate of any county in the state.
“More and more families are turning to us who have recently been evicted or who are about to be evicted,” Hyde said. “And thinking about those kids and how that’s impacting them. And what is that paving the way for, down the road?”
Hyde said her organization is focusing on eviction prevention, helping families budget, find additional income or cut expenses to hold onto their current housing, since finding cheaper alternatives in the region isn’t realistic for most.
“There needs to be better efforts toward affordable housing,” Hyde said. “There needs to be better efforts towards supporting our shelters. And I think there’s really a gap in helping families who have recently become homeless.”
In a statement, the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance said, “Addressing homelessness in New York State is one of Governor Hochul’s top priorities, including New York’s continued efforts to expand the supply of housing and funding supportive services that enable families and individuals who have experienced homelessness to remain stably housed. The SFY 2027 State Budget includes funding for the final year of the Governor Hochul’s five-year, $25 billion housing plan to create and preserve 100,000 affordable units, including 10,000 homes with support services for vulnerable populations.”
The comptroller’s data comes from a “point in time” count, a snapshot of homelessness taken on a single day in January. Some advocates have questioned whether that method accurately captures the scope of the problem, but the comptroller defended the approach.
“This is always a challenge, right, in terms of assessing what exactly the homeless population is,” the comptroller said. “This has been the methodology though that’s been in place for a long period of time. So I think it is a valid source of information and a valid comparison.”
The comptroller said it’s difficult to pinpoint why cities such as Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester did not see similar spikes, but suggested the Capital Region’s increase could be linked to residents leaving New York City for upstate areas, with the Albany region being the closest major hub.