The number of people sleeping on California’s streets has dropped for the second year in a row, according to preliminary data from the annual point-in-time count mandated by the federal government.
The report says unsheltered homelessness fell 6.5% between January 2025 and January 2026.
People are considered unsheltered if they’re living outside an official shelter, like in a tent, a vehicle, or in an abandoned building.
Homelessness overall dropped a little over 3% to an estimated 175,800 people.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and counties say boosts in homelessness funding are helping bring counts down.
But advocates point out this drop in homeless numbers is happening at the same time the state has ramped up encampment sweeps. They question whether there has actually been a drop in homelessness, or whether these sweeps and other enforcement efforts are just making homeless people harder to count.