Over 500,000 people, including more than 140,000 children, were homeless in the United States in 2015 due to few affordable housing and a sluggish economic recovery across much of the country, according to a new government study.

The study released on Thursday by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that more that 565,000 people, about one-fourth of them children, were living on the streets, in cars, in homeless shelters or in subsidized transitional housing.

However, the actual US homeless population is likely higher than HUD’s estimate because many homeless people are beyond the reach of the survey, sleeping at a friend’s home or a relative’s basement.

This year’s homelessness figure shows a 2 percent decrease since last year and an 11 percent decrease since 2007, according to HUD.

“A 2 percent change (nationally) is pretty much flat, » said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, in Washington. « We are 7 million units short of affordable housing for low-income people – that’s a big gap, » Roman said.

In spite of the slight decrease, 17 states have posted increase in homelessness. The rate in New York and California, the two most populous states, has gone up nearly 10 and 1.6 percent, respectively, since last year.

A separate report by HUD this month sowed that roughly 1.5 million individuals used a shelter in 2014, up 4.6 percent from 2013.

« Despite national estimates, New York City continues to experience near record homelessness, » said Giselle Routhier, a spokeswoman for the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group.

Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon and the state of Hawaii have all recently declared emergencies over the rise of homelessness…