Homeless count in Sacramento County increases 13% from 2024, report shows

There were more people experiencing homelessness in Sacramento County than in 2024, but fewer than in 2022, according to a new survey released Wednesday.

The federally-mandated Point-in-Time count, which officials released Wednesday, found there are roughly 7,458 homeless people living in Sacramento County — a 13% increase from 2024.

The report found 3,253 people in shelters or transitional housing, up 582 people, or 22%, from 2024. The number of people living unsheltered — outdoors or in vehicles — rose to 4,205, an increase of 261 people, or 6.6%.

Over the past decade, unsheltered people, meaning people living outdoors or in vehicles, have been concentrated in the city of Sacramento, but the new report shows that could be changing.

Of the total 4,205 unsheltered people that volunteers counted in January, about 60% of them were located in the city of Sacramento, the report said. That’s down from 80% in 2024.

“Unsheltered homelessness is more and more geographically dispersed across Sacramento County,” said Trent Simmons, chief implementation officer for nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward, which runs the count.

So where did they go?

The unincorporated county — including Arden Arcade, Rio Linda, North Highlands and parts of south Sacramento — accounted for about 27% of the unsheltered population, or 1,140 people, the report said. That was a 103% increase from 2024.

Simmons said the report, prepared by contractor Simtech Solutions, did not include more detailed data on which unincorporated areas had increases.

The city of Rancho Cordova had an estimated 210 unsheltered people, which was about 158 more people than last year, or a 5% increase from 2024, the report said.

The majority of the countywide increase came from people living in shelters, rather than outdoors.

“Investments in shelter do result in a meaningful increase in people staying in shelters on a given night,” Simmons said in a briefing with reporters Tuesday.

Since the 2024 count, the city expanded its Roseville Road shelter and the county and city opened the Stockton Boulevard shelter.

In a prepared statement accompanying the new figures, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty called the report “a mixed bag.”

“It shows real progress: fewer people living unsheltered, expanded shelter and bed capacity, and stronger connections to services,” McCarty said in a statement. “But the number of people experiencing homelessness remains unacceptably high.”

But the city of Sacramento’s unsheltered numbers could rise again in the next count, which Sacramento Steps Forward said it intends to conduct annually beginning in 2026. Results from the next count would likely be released in spring 2027.

Wednesday’s report came during one of the worst budget crises in the city of Sacramento since the Great Recession. Closing or reducing funding for homeless shelters remains under consideration.

At least three council members propose cutting or eliminating funding for homeless shelters to balance the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday.

Council members Lisa Kaplan and Karina Talamantes suggested the city eliminate or cut funding planned to open multiple planned shelters for seniors. Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum suggested “reducing or eliminating” the city’s homeless division through outsourcing.

Angela Hassell, executive director of Loaves & Fishes, said the number of people it has served with meals and services from 2023 to the present has remained essentially flat, between 9,000 and 10,000 individuals a year. She has said she is skeptical of any homeless count that falls below that number.

Sacramento County plans to open the Watt Safe Stay community, a $64 million homeless shelter on Watt Avenue in North Highlands, within the unincorporated county, later this year, according to County Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez.

San Francisco’s 2026 count, released Tuesday, was 7,973, or 515 more people than Sacramento County’s count. In 2022, Sacramento County, which has a smaller population than San Francisco, had a higher PIT count.

But San Francisco’s population is roughly half that of Sacramento County, meaning its homelessness rate is significantly higher. Based on recent U.S. Census estimates, San Francisco had about 96 people experiencing homelessness for every 10,000 residents, compared with about 47 per 10,000 in Sacramento County — about double Sacramento County’s rate.