Good evening. I'm Lisa Desjardin. Jeff Bennett and Omna Nawaz are away.

On the news hour tonight, a new report shows a dramatic rise in homelessness across the United States,

with the increase being especially high among families.

Then, Syria's future remains uncertain,

as the forces that overthrew the Assad government

must deal with those loyal to his regime

and risk further sectarian riffs.

These patrols deploy every night

in an effort to consolidate control over the city of Latakia,

which used to be Assad's bastion of support,

and the situation here remains quite tense.

And we examine the rising dangers of house fires and how to prevent and counteract them, especially at this time of the year.

...theirder. year. Welcome to the news hour. Homelessness in America reached record high numbers earlier this year. A government report out today reveals that last January,

the number of people experiencing homelessness shot up by 18%

to roughly 770,000 as counted on a single night.

The annual survey published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development

pointed to a list of intensifying economic problems, rising housing costs, and the migrant influx in some cities among them.

To understand more about what's behind this rise, I'm joined by Sean Donovan, CEO and President of Enterprise Community Partners and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban

Development. Sean, this is an eye-popping report in many ways. It's about where things stood earlier

this year, and I want to start with one particular dynamic, the role of the migrant crisis.

How and where did that affect homelessness in this country?

Well, Lisa, first of all, thank you for having me on.

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