Homeless

April Redman looks across the courtyard of an abandoned hotel in Jefferson City, Missouri, while seeking people without housing to survey as part of Calloway and Cole counties' point-in-time count on Jan. 22, 2025. Volunteers perform the count across the country every year in January to help the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development track the country’s homeless population.

Homeless residents in Midwest cities are increasingly hard to track — and to help

Kavahn Mansouri

Each year, volunteers venture out nationwide on a single night for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time count in an effort to tally the country’s homeless population. Rural volunteers say they rely on the count to aid their unhoused populations. Meanwhile, experts say HUD may be undercounting.

Missouri news

Joplin City Council, with help of Sharity, Zeros in on Homelessness

Fred Fletcher-Fierro

The number of homeless individuals in Joplin has shown growth and decline over the past 12 years. The highest number of unhoused people in Joplin and accounted for by the Homeless Coalition was 2012, the year after an EF-5 tornado destroyed ⅓ of the city.

Local News

.41% of Joplin's population is homeless, Joplin city council struggles to improve conditions

Fred Fletcher-Fierro

.41% of Joplin's population is homeless, Joplin city council struggles with finding answers to improve conditions