Jordan Sellergren/Little Village A total of 2,647 Iowans were homeless on a single night in January 2020, a 14.3 percent increase from January 2019. The number of people experiencing homelessness in Iowa was increasing even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Then came the August 2020 derecho that caused nearly $4 billion in damage, with at least $83 million of that being housing-related. Of the individuals experiencing homelessness in Iowa, about 87 percent — or 2,314 — were sheltered. The remaining 333 individuals were unsheltered. These findings are part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual point-in-time count of homelessness in the country. The one-night counts are conducted nationwide during the last 10 days of January each year. The report, along with a breakdown for each state, was published last month.