Over half a million people are homeless in the United States

A quarter of the homeless people are children

(J. Lawler Duggan/for The Washington Post)

Over half a million people are living homeless in the United States, according to the latest official statistics from the country.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Read says 565,000 people are homeless, with around a quarter of that number under the age of 18.

While the overall number of people without housing is down across the country, some areas have declared a state of housing emergency.

"Despite national estimates, New York City continues to experience near record homelessness," Giselle Routhier, a spokeswoman for the Coalition for the Homeless, told the Reuters news agency.

Other areas to have declared emergencies include Seattle, Los Angeles, and Hawaii.

“We wanted to do two things,” LA mayor Eric Garcetti told the NPR radio station in September.

“One was to declare a sense of urgency; that this was an emergency, which legally allows us to open up our shelters earlier, even before we get rain or cold days, which is the legal requirement.”

Overal homeless l figures across the nation were down two per cent on the previous years, however.

Homelessness has also been on the rise in Britain, with a 40 per cent rise since David Cameron became prime minister.