Denver is one of the major metropolitan areas in the country with the highest homeless population, and affordable housing may not be the main reason why — a new report claims.

A new study by the Common Sense Institute found that metropolitan Denver ranked fifth for total number of homeless people among the 50 largest metro areas in the country in 2024.

The study claimed that there were more than 14,200 homeless people in the metro area in 2024, just below Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City, respectively.

The 2025 annual point-in-time (PIT) Count released by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative told a similar story for last year.

The count is a nationwide, yearly, unduplicated count of the homeless population conducted on a single night in January.

A total of 7,327 people were counted as homeless — a number that grew by 788 over 2024, according to the count.

The 2025 PIT count data showed that the city’s homeless numbers went up in almost every category except two — the “newly” homeless and the “unsheltered” homeless.

Along with the numbers, CSI said that while housing affordability correlates with homelessness rates, factors like labor productivity, state spending, drug use, crime and mental illness have stronger statistical correlations than housing affordability in leading to homelessness.

“These numbers place Colorado firmly among the states facing the most severe homelessness challenges in the country,” said Dustin Zvonek, CSI Homelessness Fellow and former Aurora City Council member. “They also suggest that strategies focused almost exclusively on housing costs may be missing key drivers that keep people trapped in chronic street homelessness.” 

On Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s first day in office in July, 2023, he declared a state of emergency on homelessness in the city. That enabled Johnston to move forward with plans to clean up homeless encampments, move people indoors, and off the street with the financial backing of federal funding resources, such as the American Rescue Plan Act.

Over the next years, the city invested more than $150 million into hotel shelters and service contracts to house the homeless and provide “wrap-around” services such as case management, mental health services and job assistance.

Jon Ewing, Johnston’s spokesperson, told The Denver Gazette that the initiatives are working and the CBI report used data from the beginning of 2024, only six months into Johnston’s term.

“As for our more up-to-date efforts, we’re proud to have helped nearly 8,000 people secure shelter since July 2023 and 6,700 move into housing,” he said.

Ewing added: “As a result, there are no longer large encampments in Denver and street homelessness has fallen by 45% over the course of two years, as tracked by the annual Point-In-Time Count. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made and look forward to helping more people leave the streets behind in 2026.”

In July 2025, President Donald Trump signed in an executive order titled, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” placing country-wide priorities on non-housing first treatment models.

The 2026 PIT count will take place on Monday night, Jan. 26, 2026, according to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative.