(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

It’s easy to take rising prices and the housing shortage lightly when it gets turned into a punchline on social media, but increasing financial and quality-of-life challenges are hitting West Virginians hard.

One way in which the challenges are visible is the increase in homelessness here. According to data from the federal government, homelessness increased in West Virginia by 8% between 2024 and 2025, while the average decreased across the rest of the country.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual Point in Time count in 2025 showed 1,925 people living on the street or staying in a shelter on a single winter night, an 8.2% increase over the previous year’s count, according to a report by West Virginia Watch.

And most advocates agree, Point in Time counts can be useful, but often undercount the real problem.

How did we get here?

“Housing affordability continues to be a significant challenge, with rising rents, limited affordable housing options, and increasing housing costs making it harder for households to remain stably housed,” Matthew Hedrick, chief data officer for the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, told West Virginia Watch.

According to another expert who spoke to the news outlet on the matter, transportation challenges can also contribute to homelessness; as can physical and mental health challenges.

“So the further you go down the rabbit hole of needs, the more specific your housing needs do become,” Traci Strickland, executive director of the Kanawha Valley Collective, told West Virginia Watch.

Here we have the poorest, least healthy, and in many ways most vulnerable population in the country. That “rabbit hole of needs” can run pretty deep. Meanwhile, economic forces outside most private individuals’ control seem only to be working more against us each year.

Thousands of West Virginians don’t even have a place to call home — maybe not even a roof over their heads. And, for those to whom the support of children and families is too often a convenient political device, it will be devastating to learn the Mountain State saw a horrifying 27% increase in the number of families with children who were experiencing homelessness last year.

That should be intolerable to policymakers and politicians who claim they represent all West Virginians.