Homelessness in New York state has grown sharply, more than doubling between January 2022 and January 2024, according to a report released Wednesday by New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Homelessness grew by 53.1% from January 2023 to January 2024, more than four times the rest of the nation, driven by the influx of asylum seekers in New York City, with more than 140,000 homeless.

The rest of the state had increases ranging from 11% in Poughkeepsie/Dutchess County to 138% in Glens Falls, Saratoga Springs and surrounding counties.

Buffalo increased 81%, Syracuse increased 67%, Rochester increased 41% and Albany increased 38%.

The number of children experiencing homelessness in New York increased from 20,299 in 2022 to 50,773 in 2024.

Almost one in three of New York’s homeless are children, one of the highest shares in the nation, according to DiNapoli.

“New York has long had a housing affordability crisis, and more families are running out of options and ending up on the street or in shelters,” DiNapoli said. “Many of the tens of thousands of asylum seekers that came to New York had no place to stay and drove up spending and a large portion of the growth of the homeless population. But let’s be clear, this isn’t just a New York City problem, it is impacting communities all over the state. New York needs to examine how it’s using current housing resources while taking more action to address this urgent situation."

People who experience homelessness were disproportionately Hispanic or Black, and 10% suffered from severe mental illness or chronic substance abuse, according to the report.