The number of people experiencing homelessness topped 770,000, an increase of more than 18 percent over last year and the largest annual increase since the count began in 2007, the federal government reported today.

Nearly every category of unhoused people grew, with the rise especially steep among children and people in families. The report listed the national housing crisis and the end of pandemic-era supports as reasons, but federal officials told reporters that asylum-seeking migrants had overwhelmed the shelter systems and made for much of the increase.

Veterans were the lone group among whom homelessness declined last year, and the number of homeless veterans is down more than half since 2009. That trend has been driven by bipartisan support for services and housing that is at odds with the rancor of the broader homelessness debate.

The new numbers may widen that partisan divide. Democrats often blame soaring housing costs, flagging government rental subsidies and extremes in economic inequality, and tend to support an expanded safety net.

Many Republicans blame liberal permissiveness and want to require unhoused people to seek aid for mental illness or substance abuse as a condition of receiving aid. President-elect Donald Trump has called for clearing cities of encampments and placing unhoused people into camps.