AUGUSTA – Fewer people, including children, were considered homeless in January of 2025 than in January of 2024, according to new data from MaineHousing.

The new data, recorded on Jan. 22, 2025, showed 2,413 people being homeless in Maine, which is down 282, or a little more than 10%, from the same number recorded in 2024. 

Along with the overall number, the data released by MaineHousing also showed a 25.6% reduction in 2025 in the number of homeless children in the state.

Dean Klein, executive director of the Maine Continuum of Care, an organization that plans and coordinates services for the homeless in Maine, said he was struck by the decrease in the number of homeless children.  

Klein said the city of Portland collaborated over the past year with Catholic Charities of Maine and Prosperity Maine. Together, he said, they managed to house more than 300 families, and that this was behind the reduction in homeless children.

“With the difficulties with housing affordability, that’s a tremendous accomplishment and it really allowed us to be more successful with households with children,” he said. 

The data comes from the Point-In-Time count, an annual snapshot taken in January to count the number of reported homeless throughout Maine. 

MaineHousing conducts the count in part as a requirement by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, but the figure is often cited throughout the year as an indicator of the scope of homelessness in the state.