Unsheltered homelessness in California fell 6.5% this year, preliminary state count shows, though totals remain above 2019

The number of people living outside in California dropped for a second straight year, according to preliminary point-in-time estimates released by Gov. Gavin Newsom's office this week.

Unsheltered homelessness, which covers people sleeping in tents, vehicles, abandoned buildings and other places not meant for housing, fell an estimated 6.5% in January 2026 compared with January 2025. Total homelessness, which also counts people in shelters, declined 3.4% to about 175,836 people, CalMatters reported. Since 2024, unsheltered homelessness is down nearly 13% and overall homelessness about 6%.

The numbers still leave the state with roughly 24,600 more homeless residents than when Newsom took office in 2019, according to CalMatters.

How the figures are built

The estimates come from the federally required point-in-time counts that each county conducts on a single night in January. Some counties count every year and others every other year, so the 2026 state figure includes estimates for places that did not do a fresh count, KRCR reported.

Counties also use different methods and may change them between counts, and volunteers are likely to miss some people.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has not yet released its 2026 national numbers.

Competing explanations

Newsom credited spending on housing, shelter and behavioral health treatment, and pressure on local governments. His administration created a program that sends homelessness money directly to cities and counties, with $900 million in the current budget, along with grants for encampment cleanups and funding to convert hotels into housing.

"California is proving that homelessness is not inevitable," Newsom said, adding that the state is "not backing down" and is "not done."

Advocates cautioned that the picture may be less favorable than it looks, CalMatters reported. Cities have stepped up enforcement against unhoused people, which can scatter people from encampments and make them harder to count, and recent federal cuts to Medi-Cal and social services are expected to make the work harder.

County officials who spoke to CalMatters earlier this year credited new state money for local progress.

Sources

calmatters.org

krcrtv.com