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Counting the overlooked 'hidden homeless'

Phys · · 847 words · By University
Hidden Homelessness Public Policy Reform Housing Affordability

The article discusses the concept of 'doubling up,' a form of hidden homelessness where individuals stay with friends or relatives. It highlights research by Professor Molly Richard and data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness to argue for expanded definitions of homelessness and increased housing support.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-overlooked-hidden-homeless.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyDetected Techniques

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
warning
Exaggeration / Hyperbole 60% confidence
Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

13 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 3
schedule Pending 3
verified Verified By Reference 2
check_circle Corroborated 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified 1
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“Molly Richard, assistant professor of public health in the University of Rhode Island's College of Health Sciences, studies the homelessness crisis, including an overlooked form of homelessness called doubling up.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While web results mention Molly K. Richard in the context of 'doubled-up homelessness' and the Journal of Urban Affairs, the provided search results for the University of Rhode Island do not explicitly confirm her current title as assistant professor of public health in the College of Health Sciences. The evidence is fragmented.
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web search NEUTRAL — Search the URI website. University of Rhode Island.President Parlange, Professor Theresa Deeney, winner of URI Teaching Excellence Award. and Vice Provost Sue Adams at Academic Excellence Ceremony.
https://www.uri.edu/
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web search NEUTRAL — Public Health Nurse - CDC Clinic Full-Time Knox County Health Department.Assistant Research Professor JR103344 Full-Time University of Maryland School of Public Health.
https://apps.sph.emory.edu/PHEC/
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web search NEUTRAL — Behavioral Health Urgent Care at Ohio State offers walk in mental health support, psychiatric care and follow up for urgent, non emergency needs.
https://health.osu.edu/health/mental-health/behavioral-healt…
verified
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires every state to conduct an annual census of the unhoused population.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and HUD-related search results confirm that HUD conducts an annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count of the homeless population.
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web search NEUTRAL — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Helping Americans HUD Partners Researchers News Tuesday, May 5, 2026 HUD Declares Little Rock Housing Authority in Substantial Default, Initiates Posse…
https://www.hud.gov/
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web search NEUTRAL — The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers programs that provide housing and community development assistance. The Department also works to ensure fair and equal housing opportu…
https://www.usa.gov/agencies/u-s-department-of-housing-and-u…
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web search NEUTRAL — Explore HUD User for housing research, policy reports, datasets, case studies, and news from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/home.html
verified
“Known as a Point in Time count, conducted on an evening toward the end of January, the tally only captures the most visible forms of homelessness, such as those in warming centers, shelters, and outdoor encampments. It does not include those who are doubling up.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and HUD sources confirm the PIT count occurs in late January and focuses on visible homelessness (shelters, streets), which by definition excludes those 'doubling up' (hidden homelessness).
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web search NEUTRAL — The Point-in-Time Count, or PIT Count, is an annual survey of homeless people in the United States conducted by local agencies called Continuums of Care (CoCs) on behalf of the United States Departmen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-In-Time_Count
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web search NEUTRAL — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) captures data on people experiencing homelessness through point-in-time (PIT) counts. PIT counts take place nationwide and are conducted on o…
https://www.prb.org/news/how-many-people-in-the-united-state…
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web search NEUTRAL — Still, Fudge said HUD is considering ways to improve the process, noting that the agency does "believe that there are some better ways to do it." HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge told ABC News that the Poin…
https://abcnews.com/US/accurate-annual-count-us-homeless-pop…
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“Richard and community partners developed a measure of doubled-up homelessness. Their estimates come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), an annual representative survey of all U.S. households.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that Molly Richard developed a measure for doubled-up homelessness using American Community Survey (ACS) microdata.
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web search NEUTRAL — To aid in future research and policy, supplemental materials provide open-source tools for replicating the measure. Findings suggest that policies addressing homelessness and housing insecurity consid…
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10511482.2021.1…
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web search NEUTRAL — The American Community Survey (ACS) is the premier source of detailed information about the nation's people and housing. As an ongoing survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2005, the ACS co…
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/
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web search NEUTRAL — Census Bureau data.census.gov What data are available on data.census.gov? ACS FTP site (expert users only) Complete data from all ACS 1 year estimates files . Tables in the ACS Tables that start with …
https://guides.library.columbia.edu/census-data/acs
verified
“Since publishing a 2024 article in the Journal of Urban Affairs on "Community-level predictors of doubled-up homelessness," Richard has worked with cities and states across the country to examine local doubled-up homelessness data.”
VERIFIED
Web search results explicitly confirm the publication of 'Community-level predictors of doubled-up homelessness' in the Journal of Urban Affairs in 2024 by Molly K. Richard.
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web search NEUTRAL — Existing research has examined the community-level factors associated with sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in the United States, generally finding that housing, labor market, and social safe...
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07352166.2024.23…
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web search NEUTRAL — Community-level predictors of doubled-up homelessness.Urban Affairs Association, Washington, D.C. Richard, M. K. (2021, June). “Measuring doubled-up homelessness: Implications for equitable homelessne…
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/632d197e0e8a5a219553a…
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web search NEUTRAL — Journal of Urban Affairs. Year: 2024.We examine the community correlates of doubled-up homelessness across metropolitan areas using a measure that draws on American Community Survey microdata.
https://hpri.usc.edu/homeless_research/community-level-predi…
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“Her research also contributed to doubled-up information in the National Alliance to End Homelessness' 2025 report.”
SINGLE SOURCE
Search results mention a 2025 National Alliance to End Homelessness report, but do not explicitly detail Molly Richard's specific contribution to it.
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web search NEUTRAL — The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States.We have some additional activity to report as pa…
https://endhomelessness.org/blog/ceo-corner-week-of-may-11-2…
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web search NEUTRAL — [3] National Alliance to End Homelessness (2025) State and Local Impacts of HUD’s Housing Cuts: Data Visualization, Interactive resource demonstrates the consequences of harmful new policies, Homeless…
https://www.feantsa.org/resources/the-us-federal-government-…
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web search NEUTRAL — We are. the men and women of the National Alliance.embodies a coherent national purpose.
https://www.natall.com/
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“The report estimated that 94 out of every 10,000 people in the United States live doubled up, for a total of 3.2 million people.”
CORROBORATED
A report on Utah women mentions a national average of 95 per 10,000 people living 'doubled up' from the National Alliance to End Homelessness 2025 edition, which is very close to the claim's 94 per 10,000. The 3.2 million figure is consistent with this rate.
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web search NEUTRAL — 77 of every 10,000 Utahns lived “doubled up” (compared to 95 per 10,000 people across the US). Interestingly, Utah ranks 50th for people who rely on rental assistance to stay.lessness: 2025 edition. N…
https://www.usu.edu/uwlp/files/snapshot/65.pdf
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web search NEUTRAL — About the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States…
https://endhomelessness.org/media/news-releases/new-report-i…
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web search NEUTRAL — Preliminary 2025 point-in-time data from 170 communities suggests homelessness has stabilized after two years of record increases. Veteran homelessness near an all-time low.
https://community.solutions/research-posts/2025-homelessness…
info
“Of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., Hawaii, and California were tied for the highest rate of doubled-up homelessness, Rhode Island ranked 33rd, and Vermont had the lowest rate.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided search results for 'according' are dictionary definitions and do not contain the specific state rankings for doubled-up homelessness.
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web search NEUTRAL — The meaning of ACCORD is to grant or give especially as appropriate, due, or earned. How to use accord in a sentence. Did you know? Synonym Discussion of Accord.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/according
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web search NEUTRAL — The term according to can be used to attribute something reported — according to the news, the airports are closed (even though according to your friend, they're still open). It also refers to agreeme…
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/according
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web search NEUTRAL — Definition of 'according' according in American English (əˈkɔrdɪŋ ) adjective agreeing; in harmony
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/acco…
help
“In Rhode Island, an average of 5,641 individuals experienced doubled-up homelessness from 2020–2024, which was 4.6% of all Rhode Islanders living in or near poverty.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the search results regarding specific Rhode Island statistics for 2020-2024.
help
“In 2024, those figures were much higher than the five-year average—with an average of 9,998 Rhode Islanders per day experiencing doubled-up homelessness, equating to 6.94% of the population living in or near poverty.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the search results regarding specific Rhode Island statistics for 2024.
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“Rhode Island had the 12th highest rate of homelessness (22 out of every 10,000 people) and the state's median gross rent was $961.”
PENDING
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“In 2024, the state's median rent rose to $1,418.”
PENDING
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“Providence specifically had the highest increase in rents of any metro area in the nation.”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.