9,278 people living unhoused in Sacramento County on any given night. Of those, 72 percent of those are living unsheltered– which means they are living in a tent, a vehicle or without any shelter. The nighty count translates to about 16,000-20,000 people that experience homelessness at some point in the year.
There are approximately 2,600 emergency shelter beds throughout Sacramento County, serving individuals, families, and transition age youth. Most are available year-round; some are seasonally opened during inclement weather. The County currently funds about 1,300 of these beds, with another 180 set to welcome guests within the next six month. Sacramento County is actively looking to stand up new shelter programs and locations to continue to address the crisis of unsheltered homelessness.
Singles Emergency Shelter Program is a short term shelter program located at the Mather Community Campus. This program provides up to 9 months of shelter to assist participants with overcoming barriers to long-term housing. A comprehensive array of supportive services including but not limited to, case management, housing services, credit repair, employment assistance, mental health support, AOD treatment support and rental assistance.
Family Transitional Shelter
Family Transitional Housing is located at the Mather Community Campus. This program provides transitional housing to families while overcoming barriers to long-term housing. A comprehensive array of supportive services including but not limited to, case management, housing services, credit repair, employment assistance, mental health support, AOD treatment support and temporary rental assistance.
In 2017, Sacramento looked at the cost born by the public systems (County jail, shelters, behavioral health and City Fire), and found the average cost for an unsheltered individual to be $45,000 annually for the top 250 users of these systems. It costs far more to leave people unhoused than it does to stabilize them, address the issues keeping them in homelessness and doing whatever it takes to get them housed.
The Service Center’s size and configuration offers a unique opportunity to serve folks immediately exiting homelessness in the emergency/weather respite center, as well as those more stabilized and working towards permanent housing in the Safe Stay cabins. Additionally, it will allow staff to serve people living in vehicles, which includes working poor and those who are only recently homeless.
Examples of services numbers and types include:
- General case management: 15,734
- Housing search/placement: 1,265
- Vital document support: 1,260
- CalAim services: 389
- Coordinated Access System (CAS) referrals: 315
During the same period, HEART Team efforts included:
- 346 individuals engaged
- 300 individuals screened
- 303 referrals to outpatient programs
- 118 individuals linked to and served by outpatient programs
The latest Point in Time Count (PIT) estimates there
are 9,278 people living unhoused in Sacramento
County on any given night.
Yes, Sacramento, California has a homelessness problem, with the number of unhoused people increasing in recent years. The city and county have taken steps to address the crisis, including building new shelters and providing grants for emergency shelters. However, some say the city has not done enough to address homelessness.
Los Angeles tops the list with the highest homeless population in California. According to the 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, there were an estimated 75,518 homeless individuals in Los Angeles County, with 46,260 in the city alone (LAHSA) (LAHSA) .
A total of
11,222 people
engaged with the homeless
response system in 2020
5,570 people
experienced homelessness on
a single day (January 31, 2019)
6,615 people were estimated to be experiencing homelessness during the 2024
Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, a 28.7% decrease from the 2022 PIT Count.
Between 2022 and 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness in shelters
increased by 2.2%, from 2,614 to 2,671. In contrast, the number of unsheltered
individuals decreased by 40.8%, dropping from 6,664 to 3,944.
Of people interviewed during the unsheltered count:
o 50% said that this was their first-time experiencing homelessness, and 68% said
that their current episode of homelessness had lasted at least two years; this
means that a majority of those interviewed in the 2024 PIT Count reported being
homeless during the 2022 PIT Count.
o 90% said that they had been residents of Sacramento for more than six months
with 62% stating that they either originated in Sacramento or had been lifelong
residents.
o 25% said that they had been placed in a foster or group home before turning 18.
o 74% said that they had been required to move and find a new sleeping location
within the last two months.
o 58% reported that the number one thing that Sacramento could do to better help
them was increase affordable housing.
You may not realize it, but Sacramento’s homeless problem is one of the nation’s worst. Homeless grew to about 9,300 in the 2022 Sacramento County point in time homeless count measurement, which was a 67 percent increase over the 2019 figures. Last year, the number of homeless in Sacramento was found to be even higher than San Francisco’s count.
You may not realize it, but Sacramento’s homeless problem is one of the nation’s worst. Homeless grew to about 9,300 in the 2022 Sacramento County point in time homeless count measurement, which was a 67 percent increase over the 2019 figures. Last year, the number of homeless in Sacramento was found to be even higher than San Francisco’s count.
There are now an estimated 6,615 homeless people living in Sacramento, a steep 29% decrease from the 9,278 people volunteers counted during the preceding survey in 2022. Elected officials are touting the new number — no longer higher than San Francisco’s — as a sign that efforts to combat the homeless crisis are finally working.
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article289001864.html#storylink=cpy
Actually at 41%
Every two years, Sacramento County, its cities, and the Sacramento Homeless Continuum of Care undertake an extensive effort to document every individual in the region experiencing homelessness during a 24-hour period. This effort, known as the “Point-in-Time Homeless Count,” provides a single-night snapshot of nearly all individuals and families staying at emergency/transitional shelters in the county, as well as unsheltered individuals, such as those sleeping outside, in tents or vehicles, under bridges, or other places not meant for human habitation. Source: Sacramento Steps Forward, 2022.
The “July 2022 Homelessness in Sacramento County, Results from the 2022 Point-in-Time Count” report prepared by Division of Social Work Faculty, Dr. Arturo Baiocchi, Dr. Susanna Curry, Dr. Frances Furio, Dr. Kyle Caler, Dr. Ethan Evans, and the Center for Health Practice, Policy, and Research.
The first report, published in April 2020, and linked below, describes the variety of programs and innovative practices that have been funded by the initiative in the past twelve months across the state. Drawing from a variety of data sources the report also provides insight into how communities have strategized their funding decisions for HEAP, as well as some of the early successes and challenges that communities have encountered implementing the initiative. Finally, the report summarizes a set of recommendations for how researchers and policy makers can explore the varied and disparate impacts that funding initiatives like HEAP can have on local service systems.
Los Angeles: You’ve seen the rows of crowded tents that line our Los Angeles streets. You’ve seen the faces and desperation of men, women and children huddled together, living on the streets. You’ve seen the brokenness of these people because their brokenness is on display for everyone to see. But how much do you know about the homeless crisis? These 5 facts help illustrate the overwhelming tragedy that is homelessness in Los Angeles.
There are over 58,000 people across Los Angeles County who are experiencing homelessness, a 12% increase from 2018.
2. More people are falling into homelessness for the first time Between soaring housing costs and wages that can’t keep up with the high-cost of living, more people are falling into homelessness for the first time. You see, 6 out of 10 people experiencing homelessness are now without housing for the first time — many citing economic hardship as a significant factor.
Homelessness remains visible on our streets. When you look around Skid Row and greater Los Angeles, you see countless people living in tents, make-shift shelters and their vehicles. The hard truth is that 75% of people experiencing homelessness lack permanent shelter and have to make due with whatever they can find.
They’re fleeing violence and assault. Every person experiencing homelessness has a story and a reason for why they have turned to the streets. Sadly, domestic violence can be a significant factor. In fact, 5% report being driven into homelessness because they are fleeing domestic violence and have nowhere else to turn. At Los Angeles Mission, we work to provide emergency services as well as long-term solutions to help our neighbors break the cycle of homelessness and rewrite the next chapter of their lives. While homelessness remains a crisis in Los Angeles, there is hope for a better tomorrow if we all work together to create change.
For some who lived on the streets of Los Angeles, Inside Safe was a lifesaver — giving them a roof over their head for the first time in years, then helping them find a permanent home.
For others, it was a major disappointment.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is banking on her Inside Safe initiative to help her solve the largest homelessness crisis in California. The program, which brings people from encampments into hotels until housing becomes available, has moved hundreds of Angelenos into permanent homes.
But hundreds more have gone from those hotels back to life on the street.
Yet it has not affected the vast majority of the nearly 30,000 Angelenos who sleep outside. A lack of long-term housing and a shortage of health care, mental health and addiction services remain huge obstacles, as does the program’s high price tag.
“Lots of people that have been brought inside under Inside Safe, and that’s great,” said John Maceri, chief executive officer of The People Concern, a nonprofit that runs two Inside Safe hotels. “We still struggle with the exit strategy: Where are people going to move to?”
Proponents say data proves the model works: Overall homelessness dropped slightly in the city of Los Angeles in 2024, and the number of people sleeping on the city’s streets is down 10%.
Mayor Bass publicly eschewed that strategy, and as of July, police had made no arrests during Inside Safe operations, according to the city. Even so, a report by Human Rights Watch earlier this year accused LA of not doing enough to protect the rights of its unhoused residents.
People living in the hotels weren’t getting the help they needed accessing everything from medical care to mental health and addiction services — something Bass acknowledged at the time was a problem.
To date, Inside Safe has cleared 67 encampments and moved 3,254 people into hotels — nearly 23% of whom have gone on to permanent housing.
That improvement from 6% to 23% is “great,” said Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who has hosted more than a dozen Inside Safe operations in his district. “But it’s obviously not where anybody wants to see it. At the end of the day, interim is interim and permanent is permanent. We want to see folks permanently housed.” As of July, more people had returned to homelessness from Inside Safe than were permanently housed at the time — 819 compared to 650.
Since her first day in office when she declared an unprecedented emergency on the homelessness crisis, Mayor Karen Bass has driven change in how we address homelessness with new initiatives to bring people living in encampments inside. She has also worked to prevent people from losing their homes and to lock arms across all levels of government to move people inside and save lives and restore neighborhoods.
“For so many years, the count has shown increases in homelessness, and we have all felt that in our neighborhoods. But we leaned into change. And we have changed the trajectory of this crisis and have moved L.A. in a new direction,” said Mayor Karen Bass. “There is nothing we cannot do by taking on the status quo, putting politics aside, and rolling up our sleeves to work together. I want to thank the City Council, the County Board of Supervisors, LAHSA, our state, federal and community partners and our service provider partners for locking arms to confront this crisis with the urgency that it requires. This is not the end, it is the beginning – and we will build on this progress, together.”
Bass was ebullient. “From day one,” she said late Wednesday, “we have been shattering the status quo when it comes to confronting the homelessness crisis. Now with Measure A, we will be able to provide more mental health care and more affordable housing.” CRAP.
In the two years since then, progress has been slow and difficult. Last year’s count of the region’s homeless offered the first bare glimmerings of hope that her work might be paying off, as the city and county each tallied reductions in the annual homeless count, though only by a fraction. There’s still some 75,000 people without housing in Los Angeles County, a gigantic pool of men, women and children in need — often desperate need — of help with their dismaying array of difficulties.
Los Angeles County’s homelessness situation is unlike any other in the United States.1 By
recent estimates, LA’s population of people experiencing homelessness has surpassed New
York City’s to become the largest in the nation—and it is still growing, with about one in 150
Angelenos, or 69,000 people, experiencing homelessness.2 By the time LA hosts the 2028
Olympic Games, it is at risk of having more than 100,000 people experiencing homelessness
(Exhibit 1). Thousands do not have a safe place to sleep tonight, and more than five people
experiencing homelessness (PEH) may lose their lives today.3
Why LA’s homelessness crisis is unique
LA County is large by almost any measure. It is home to ten million people spread over 4,000
square miles and, if it were a country, its economy would rank among the world’s 25 biggest.4
Unfortunately, LA’s homelessness crisis mirrors this scale and is only exacerbated by its rapid
growth rate, the persistence of chronic homelessness, and a lack of shelter.
On average, for every
207 individuals who
exit homelessness daily,
227 more enter.
119,433 People Placed in Permanent Housing
157,141 People Placed in Interim Housing
39,920 People Prevented from Becoming Homeless
Results released Friday from a federally required tally conducted in January found 75,312 people were homeless on any given night across the county, compared with 75,518 in 2023. About 45,252 were within the city of Los Angeles, where public frustration has grown as tents have proliferated on sidewalks and in parks.
Still, the ongoing crisis is playing out in plain sight in virtually every neighborhood in the city.
The problem is most apparent in downtown Los Angeles, where thousands of people live in makeshift shanties that line entire blocks in the notorious neighborhood known as Skid Row. Tents regularly pop up on the pavement and parks outside City Hall, and encampments increasingly are found in suburban areas and under freeway overpasses.
Bass’ signature program, dubbed Inside Safe, offers homeless people motel rooms and a path to permanent housing with services. It has more than 2,760 enrollees so far, her office said this week.
Approximately 42,000 people are unsheltered and sleeping on the streets of the City of Los Angeles on a given night. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office has numerous programs, resources and initiatives to assist.
When Sacramento changed its plan to demolish a homeless encampment on a vacant lot on Colfax Street, instead offering the homeless occupants a lease, activists and camp residents celebrated it as a win.
The first-of-its-kind deal, which allows the camp to remain in place and govern itself without city interference, was held up as a model Sacramento could replicate at future sites. Other cities, including San Jose, have said they’re considering similar models, putting the success or failure of this encampment under the microscope.
Many activist groups laud that model as a best practice, saying it’s important to let the residents run, or at least help run, their own camp.
It also means minimal overhead for the city: The trailers provided to Camp Resolution residents came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency at no cost to the city of Sacramento, and adding the camp to the city’s existing contract for trash pickup didn’t add any additional expense.
In Sacramento, California, however, the latest point-in-time survey of those in shelters and on the street, conducted in January, tells the story of a dramatic reduction in the number of unhoused residents in the city and county: Since 2022, overall homelessness has decreased by 29% and the number of people sleeping outdoors has fallen by 41%.
In Sacramento, California, an estimated 6,615 people are experiencing homelessness, a number that — while still heartbreakingly high — has declined 29% since 2023, according to the latest Point In Time counts.
But a new project, which has been in the works since 2022, might bring that number down even lower.
A new 13-acre property purchased by Sacramento County will soon be home to the Watt Service Center and Safe Stay.
In 2017, the city found that the average cost for an “unsheltered individual” was about $45,000 a year, considering public systems like county jail, shelters, behavioral health, and more.
With the projected impact of the shelter, that cost lowers to less than $3,600 per person.