Governor Newsom announces local progress in reducing homelessness

Communities reporting reduced homelessness

Each year local governments conduct point-in-time counts in January with final numbers reported in December. While the preliminary data reported by communities has not yet been verified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, initial reporting by locals is encouraging. 

Communities across California are beginning to see a substantial decrease in the unsheltered homelessness numbers, indicating a strong trend that people experiencing homelessness are accepting shelter, programs, services and housing, in part as a result of unprecedented state investments. California communities are making good progress in getting people off the streets and out of encampments and connecting them with the care they need. 

For example, the city of San Diego saw a 3.9% decrease in unsheltered homelessness and total homelessness down 13.5%. The county of Riverside reported a 19% decrease in unsheltered homelessness. 

In the Los Angeles region, unsheltered homelessness has dropped for two years in a row. Preliminary data for 2025 shows that Los Angeles county is expected to report that total homelessness went down by 4%, with unsheltered homelessness reducing by 9.5%. The city of Los Angeles reported that its total homelessness also decreased by 3.4% and unsheltered homelessness went down by 7.9%. 

Continuums of care serving regional jurisdictions also reported promising news. In San Bernardino county, total homelessness dropped 10.2%, and San Diego county’s total homeless population dropped by 7%. The Bakersfield region also saw a decrease, reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness by 2.3%. 

Reversing a decades-in-the-making crisis

The Newsom administration is making significant progress in reversing decades of inaction on homelessness. Between 2014 and 2019—before Governor Newsom took office—unsheltered homelessness in California rose by approximately 37,000 people. Since then, under this Administration, California has significantly slowed that growth, even as many other states have seen worsening trends.

In 2024, while homelessness increased nationally by over 18%, California limited its overall increase to just 3% — a lower rate than in 40 other states. The state also held the growth of unsheltered homelessness to just 0.45%, compared to a national increase of nearly 7%. States like Florida, Texas, New York, and Illinois saw larger increases both in percentage and absolute numbers. California also achieved the nation’s largest reduction in veteran homelessness and made meaningful progress in reducing youth homelessness.

New strategies that work

Since taking office in 2019, Governor Newsom has created unprecedented policy and structural changes in state government to help California better address its housing and homelessness crises, including additional and unprecedented support for local governments, stronger accountability and enforcement, transformational changes to mental health services and state government, and groundbreaking reforms.