The Californer - California sees drop in unsheltered homelessness, bucking national trend and federal headwinds

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Jan 8, 2026

California sees drop in unsheltered homelessness, bucking national trend and federal headwinds

What you need to know: California's homelessness plummeted in 2025 — with the largest drop in 15 years — according to preliminary data, due to Governor Newsom's strategies to reduce homelessness, address encampments, and create shelter and support. Data from California communities reporting 2025 numbers show a 9% drop in unsheltered homelessness, bucking national trends by getting people off the streets and into safe shelter and care.

SACRAMENTO – Governor Newsom's ambitious efforts to address the decades-long homelessness crisis have made California a leader in reducing its growth. As a result, California's homelessness numbers have decreased by the largest amount in more than 15 years, based on currently available data, with unsheltered homelessness dropping by roughly 9% in regions reporting 2025 numbers. These preliminary annual point-in-time counts, calculated using data reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), show that Governor Newsom's strategies to help more people access shelter and address encampments are effective in reducing homelessness.

I made homelessness a top priority in 2019 with my eyes wide open — knowing we had to take on a broken system that was failing far too many people. No one in this country should be without a place to call home. In California, we're proving there is a solution. The strategies we've put in place are working, and they're turning this crisis around — but we're not done. We won't stop until everyone has a safe, stable place to call home.

Governor Gavin Newsom

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Outperforming the nation in reducing homelessness

While homelessness continued to increase nationwide, California reduced its unsheltered homeless population by an estimated 9%. California's reduction represents the largest decrease in homelessness in more than 15 years.

The data was derived using HUD's standard reporting approach, and is based on data reported by 30 Continuums of Care.

Today's announcement comes despite significant federal headwinds and Trump's failed economic agenda, which threatens California's ongoing progress. Over the past year, the Trump administration has moved to dismantle the national safety net by adding bureaucracy to food and healthcare assistance for low-income families, delaying HUD homeless assistance grants, attempting to block critical investments in permanent supportive housing, and proposing the elimination of programs that help people get back on their feet. This further adds to the damage from President Trump's failed economic policies. While Washington retreats from its responsibilities, California will continue to step up to protect our most vulnerable residents.

Reversing decades of inaction on homelessness

In 2019, during his first State of the State, Governor Newsom announced the state would begin focusing on the homelessness crisis — becoming the first Governor in history to make this issue a top statewide priority. Through new programs and funding, California is now outperforming the nation in turning around the decades-in-the-making homelessness crisis.

An approach that works

President Trump's cruel policies fly in the face of strategies that are proven to work. From the very first moments of the Newsom administration, the national crisis of housing and homelessness – which were decades in the making – has been addressed with ingenuity, seriousness, and expertise. No other state has devoted as much time and attention to these twin problems – and California is a leader in producing positive results.

Investments since 2019 have included the launch of the first-in-the-nation Homekey program that has created nearly 16,000 homes across 250 projects and reached over 172,000 Californians; $2.25 billion through Homekey+ to serve individuals with mental health or substance use challenges and veterans; over $5 billion appropriated for Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) to support local jurisdictions in promoting housing stability and reducing homelessness; and $1 billion in Encampment Resolution Funds to provide services and housing to help 23,000 individuals across 120 encampment sites transition from homelessness.

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Governor Newsom is creating a structural and foundational model for America:

✅ Addressing mental health and its impact on homelessness — Ending a long-standing 7,000 behavioral health bed shortfall in California by rapidly expanding community treatment centers and permanent supportive housing units. In 2024, voters approved Governor Newsom's Proposition 1 which is transforming California's mental health systems with a $6.4 billion Behavioral Health Bond for treatment settings and housing with services for veterans and people experiencing homelessness, and reforming the Behavioral Health Services Act to focus on people with the most serious illnesses, provide care to people with substance disorders, and support their housing needs. When fully awarded, funding from Proposition 1 bonds is estimated to create 6,800 residential treatment beds and 26,700 outpatient treatment slots for behavioral health care.

✅ Creating new pathways for those who need the most help — Updating conservatorship laws for the first time in 50 years to include people who are unable to provide for their personal safety or necessary medical care, in addition to food, clothing, or shelter, due to either severe substance use disorder or serious mental health illness. Creating a new CARE court system that creates court-ordered plans for up to 24 months for people struggling with untreated mental illness, and often substance use challenges.

✅ Streamlining and prioritizing building of new housing — Governor Newsom made creating more housing a state priority for the first time in history. He has signed into law groundbreaking reforms to break down systemic barriers that have stood in the way of building the housing Californians need, including broad CEQA reforms.

✅ Creating shelter and support — Providing funding and programs for local governments, coupled with strong accountability measures to ensure that each local government is doing its share to build housing, and create shelter and support, so that people living in encampments have a safe place to go.

✅ Removing dangerous encampments — Governor Newsom has set a strong expectation for all local governments to address encampments in their communities and help connect people with support. In 2024, Governor Newsom filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court defending communities' authority to clear encampments. After the Supreme Court affirmed local authority, Governor Newsom issued an executive order directing state entities and urging local governments to clear encampments and connect people with support, using a state-tested model that helps ensure encampments are addressed humanely and people are given adequate notice and support.

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In August, just a year after he issued the executive order urging local governments to better address encampments, the Governor announced his SAFE Task Force to address encampments in California's ten largest cities. In just a few months, the task force has addressed encampments in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sacramento, and Fresno — connecting dozens of people with shelter. Since 2021, Caltrans has removed more than 19,000 encampments on state right-of-way and collected approximately 354,000 cubic yards of litter and debris.

Housing and homelessness, Press releases, Recent news, Top story (https://www.gov.ca.gov/category/top-story/)

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