At city hall, homelessness has been called a crisis. Recently, former Mayor Tim Burgess announced $34 million in new funding.

For the first time since 2010, America’s homeless population has increased.

In January, cities across the U.S. conduct an annual Point in Time count. This year’s collected data is now a part of a report that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released Wednesday.

The report revealed nearly 554,000 homeless people across the nation. That is up 1 percent from 2016.

In Seattle, the unsheltered population grew by 44 percent over two years to nearly 5,500.

Wednesday night, a homeless man named Edward said for him it was the “rent factor.”