The Metro: Homelessness rising among families in Oakland County
Sam Corey, The Metro January 29, 2026Over the last three years, homelessness has been trending upward in Oakland County. Ryan Hertz from the anti-poverty organization Lighthouse shares his perspective.
Over the past decade, homelessness has been down in Oakland County. But in the last three years, it’s been trending up again.
The 2024 point-in-time count found that about 1,700 people were homeless in Oakland County.
Last week, the locality conducted its latest count while Wayne County had one on Wednesday. We don’t have the official results from either count yet, but, according to Ryan Hertz, the number of families that are homeless is growing, even as chronically homeless individuals are getting housing more often.
The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke with the CEO and president of the anti-poverty organization, Lighthouse, to learn more.
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Authors
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Sam Corey is a producer for 101.9 WDET, which includes finding and preparing interesting stories for the daily news, arts and culture program, The Metro. Sam joined WDET after a year and a half at The Union, a small newspaper in California, and stints at a variety of local Michigan outlets, including WUOM and the Metro Times. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. -


