Columbia counted 309 homeless people in 2025, a number that is roughly consistent with the totals recorded over the past few years.
The homeless population was reported to be 323 in 2024 and 270 in 2023, according to the 2025 State of Homelessness Report produced by the city.
Numbers during the pandemic from 2020 to 2022 were not recorded, but in 2019, the homeless population was 268.
According to Carter Stephenson, public health planner at the Columbia/Boone County Department of Health and Human Services, the data for the annual report is collected by local and state organizations committed to working with the homeless population.
The count reflects the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night, both sheltered and unsheltered, and it is typically conducted by state volunteers sometime during the last 10 days of January, Stephenson said.
Known as the Point-in-Time Count, the survey is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Stephenson said data is also collected by local organizations on the third Wednesday of each month.
He pointed to federal funding priorities that have changed for housing the homeless, which may be causing the numbers to increase. Now, people at risk of losing their housing will be getting less funding from the federal government, which makes it more likely for likely for them to end up on the streets.
An ‘escalating crisis’
In a report released this week, the CoMo Mobile Aid Collective called homelessness in Columbia an “escalating crisis,” particularly in terms of available services.
Researchers and outreach advocates spent six months conducting more than 130 surveys with members of the homeless population across the city.
According to CoMo Mobile Aid, which supports this community:
• Fifty-nine percent reported that it was their first time being homeless, and the collective called that “a sharp and severe upward shift in recent years.”
• Many of those in the survey were vulnerable adults over the age of 50 dealing with severe physical illness or injuries and mental health challenges, as well as many youth under the age of 25.
• Much of the expanding population migrates from smaller Missouri towns to Columbia in search of services not available in rural areas.
The study also looked at the gaps in basic needs for human survival among the homeless population:
● Sixty percent of those surveyed live in local shelters or hotels, while 20% live outside on the streets, and 17.47% sleep in tents or couch-surf. Of the total, 38.1% said employment or income-related issues caused their housing instability.
● Nearly half (47%) reported no consistent, easy access to food; 30% report feeling hungry most or all of the time and 37% survive on less than two meals a day. Only half of those eligible successfully access SNAP benefits.
● Respondents average of 5.69 hours of sleep per night, with 2.6 to 2.9 disruptions. Noise, adverse weather conditions and moving repeatedly were key reasons for poor sleep.
● Although 79% have some kind of medical insurance, 42% don’t have a primary-care physician and 42% have difficulty understanding their prescriptions. Mental health remains the most dominant health concern, cited by 31.2% of respondents, with 34% rating their overall mental and emotional health as “poor.”
Stephenson said putting more attention on low-income and affordable housing is one way to respond to the escalating problem.
“We need houses built at every financial, economic level that people can afford, but affordable, low-income housing is a huge necessity, especially regarding homelessness and reducing that number,” he said.
Opportunity Campus
Opening the Opportunity Campus this summer should add more housing options for the homeless population, while also providing services and resources to help reduce the number of people who need to be housed.
In addition to 150 beds at the Waypoint Shelter, Voluntary Action Center’s $18.6 million project near Business Loop 70 will include Loaves & Fishes, Turning Point Day Center and the Centerstone Medical Cinic.
The Voluntary Action Center will operate the shelter with 24/7 staff; Turning Point will provide daytime services, individual support and community connection; and Loaves & Fishes will serve food every evening.
Centerstone, formerly Burrell Behavioral Health, will be a medical clinic for primary and preventative care, substance abuse and mental health services, telehealth, crisis counseling and community navigators that assist individuals who may qualify for Medicare.
Jessica McNear, shelter director for the Voluntary Action Center, said the organizations could either opt to dissolve their operations and join the agency or remain autonomous as rental tenants. Turning Point and Loaves & Fishes chose to remain autonomous and will occupy space in the building.
Two buildings make up the complex — the Hub will house Loaves & Fishes, the Waypoint Shelter and Turning Point, and the Cindy Mustard Resource Center will house VAC offices and Centerstone. Centerstone will occupy 5,000 square feet in the resource center, with an additional 2,000 square feet for shared space with other nonprofit providers.
“We really want it to feel like a community hub where everyone is welcome to come in and collaborate on providing services that streamline to help the clients that we’re serving achieve their goals much faster,” McNear said.
Tentatively, Turning Point opens June 29, Loaves & Fishes starts meal service July 6, and the overnight shelter is set to open the following week. The campus will have six showers, six wellness rooms, industrial washers and dryers, space for pets, continental breakfast and access to case managers.
“We are working hard with CoMo Mobile Aid and some other providers to try and provide a space where folks can have more dignity than spending their last days in an encampment or some abandoned place,” McNear said.
The Opportunity Campus is being paid for with state and local government funding plus private donations and American Rescue Plan Act grants.
