Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ
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GENERAL

The Claim

A majority of people experiencing homelessness in the United States have a mobile phone.

The Short Version

Available studies strongly suggest that more than half of people experiencing homelessness in the United States have a mobile phone or current phone access. However, the evidence comes mostly from local or subgroup studies rather than a single nationally representative estimate, and phone access is less consistent among some unsheltered groups. The overall takeaway is directionally well supported, but the wording is broader than the data directly prove.

Caveats

  • The evidence is not based on a single nationally representative U.S. estimate for all people experiencing homelessness.
  • Studies use different definitions: phone ownership, current access, and having a working phone are not the same thing.
  • Rates can be lower for some unsheltered populations, so the claim should not be read as applying uniformly across every subgroup.

The Receipts

  1. Mobile Phone, Computer, and Internet Use Among Older Homeless Adults: A Cohort Study

    JMIR mHealth and uHealth

  2. No Digital Divide? Technology Use among Homeless Adults

    PMC

  3. Homeless patients' perceptions about using cell phones to manage medications and attend medical appointments

    PMC

  4. Expired, Lost and Stolen: Cell Phones, Critical for Homeless People Can Be Tough To Get and Keep

    CalHealthReport

  5. Cellphones Are a Lifeline for Unhoused People—But Barriers Abound

    Shelterforce

  6. How Smartphone Technology is Helping the Homeless

    NBCLX (YouTube)

  7. How can homeless people afford cell phones?

    Homeless Hub

  8. Cell Phone Use among Homeless Youth: Potential for New Health Interventions and Research

    USC Homelessness Policy Research Institute

  9. Mobile Fact Sheet

    Pew Research Center

  10. How Mobile Technology Can Help the Homeless Population

    Giving Compass

+ 3 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

United States

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