WOODS CROSS— The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has found that homelessness in Utah increased by almost 13 percent between 2011 and 2012.

Meanwhile, homelessness in the nation, based on a count of all homeless people on one January night in 2012, was largely unchanged from a similar count the year before.

In Utah, HUD estimates that there were 3,527 homeless people in 2012, up from 3,130 the year before. Of those, 331 were chronically homeless in 2012, down from 364 in 2011, and 330 were veterans, down from 345 the year before.

Numbers aren’t yet available for Davis County, but the study found that homelessness in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County was up by 21.2 percent in 2012 compared to the year before.

“We continue to see a stable level of homelessness across our country at a time of great stress for those at risk of losing their housing,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “We must redouble our efforts to target our resources more effectively to help those at greatest risk. As our nation’s economic recovery takes hold, we will make certain that our homeless veterans and those living on our streets find stable housing so they can get on their path to recovery.”

President Barack Obama and federal authorities are hoping to solve the homelessness problem with a program called Opening Doors, which joins private, state and local partners in an effort to "end veterans and chronic homelessness by 2015," and end "homelessness among children, family and youth by 2020."

Read more about the HUD story by clicking here.