On an average night in Boston more than 1,500 single individuals and 2,200 people in families spend the night in an emergency shelter, and nearly 200 people sleep on the streets, according to a study released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Boston had more people spend the night in emergency shelters than any other city in the survey, with a total of 16,540 individuals over the course of the year, outnumbering Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas. Other cities had more homeless people living on the streets. In Los Angeles more than 14,000 people lived on the streets during the year and San Francisco had more than 3,000, according to the report.

The study is based on research about hunger and homelessness in 25 U.S. cities. Families experiencing homelessness grew by an average of 3 percent in the cities that responded to the survey, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors 2014 Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness.

Mayors who took part were asked to report on hunger and homelessness in their cities, and the emergency food assistance provided between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2014, a period when healthier conditions were reported in the U.S. economy.

In Boston, homeless families increased by 5.8 percent and the number of homeless individuals increased by 3.8 percent over the past year.

Shelters in Boston were forced to turn away both homeless individuals and families with children because there was no room.

Boston officials estimated 22 percent of the demand for shelter went unmet last year even after shelters increased the number of people or families in a single room, and often had people sleep on overflow cots, in chairs or in hallways, according to the report. In some cases, the shelters distributed vouchers for hotel or motel stays because no beds were available, the report stated.

On Thursday, there were 1,662 families living in motels in Massachusetts.

Kelly Turley, director of the legislative advocacy at the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, said in addition to the 22 percent of the unmet need for shelter, a large percentage of families with children seeking shelter are turned away each month because they don’t met the "strict" requirement to access shelter in Massachusetts.

"We are concerned that may go up, because the Department of Housing is looking to make it easier to kick families out of shelter," Turley said.

"We are concerned the number of families staying in places not meant for human habitation will go up," she added.

Also, state funding for shelter and services to single adults in Massachusetts, when adjusted for inflation, has declined since 2001, according to a Coalition for the Homeless representative who cited Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center statistics.

Demand for emergency shelter went unmet in many cities, with an average of 22 percent of the need unfilled.

Emergency shelters in the majority of the cities, 73 percent, were forced to turn away homeless families with children. Unaccompanied homeless youth were turned away from emergency shelters in 61 percent of the cities involved in the survey.

Adults who were employed made up 18 percent of the homeless population and 13 percent were veterans, in the cities that took part in the study.

Cities that have created programs to reduce the number of homeless veterans reported some success.

In Boston, more than 400 formerly homeless veterans have been placed in housing since September 2013, according to the report.

A lack of affordable housing was the leading cause of homelessness among families with children in all the cities that responded to the survey. Unemployment, poverty, and low-paying jobs compounded the problem, according to the report.

The cities also reported that on average 28 percent of the homeless adults were severely mentally ill, 22 percent physically disabled, 15 percent victims of domestic violence, and 3 percent were HIV positive.

Since 1982, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has reportedly annually on problems of hunger and homelessness.