WASHINGTON  - The number of homeless people in the U.S. has declined slightly since last year. That's even as communities face shrinking federal budgets and a shortage of affordable housing.

A Department of Housing and Urban Development survey says nearly 565,000 people were homeless at the time of the count, on a single night in the last week of January.

HUD says that's down 2 percent, from 578,000 the previous year.

More than 47,000 veterans were homeless, down by about 4 percent from last year.

The report shows the least progress was in the number of people who are chronically homeless. That number declined 1 percent to 83,000.

Since 2010, the total number of homeless people has dropped more than 11 percent from 637,077.