The federally mandated Point in Time Count is conducted every two years on a single morning in January. The data isn’t perfect, but it’s required to secure federal funding for homelessness services.
This year, San Francisco changed the way it does the count. Previous counts were conducted during late night hours, but this year's was conducted in the morning.
The preliminary data shows that there’s been about a 4% decline overall in homelessness, but the number of unhoused families have increased by 15%.
At a press conference, Lurie acknowledged that there’s more work to do.
“We are on track to have every family with a permitted vehicle in shelter or housing by the end of the year,” he said. “We will also continue to invest in supports for families to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.”
The complete set of data from the 2026 Point in Time count will be released later this summer.
