Miss Smith, who is wheelchair bound, and Elizabeth Singletary talk about their lives after being displaced from the homeless encampment off of Crosier Street in Akron on Friday, April 4, 2025.
Sacramento, California – California officials say the state is beginning to see signs of progress in one of its toughest battles: homelessness. Nearly 30 years of escalating encampments and rising housing costs have made California the center of the nation’s crisis, but new local data suggest the state’s recent efforts may be starting to bend the curve.
Preliminary reports from point-in-time counts conducted in January show that some of California’s largest counties and cities are recording reductions in homelessness. Los Angeles County reports a 9.5 percent drop in unsheltered homelessness, Los Angeles city a 7.9 percent decrease, and San Diego city an even larger 13.5 percent decline in total homelessness. Inland areas like Riverside and San Bernardino counties also saw double-digit decreases in unsheltered counts, while places such as Contra Costa, Sonoma, and Ventura counties reported substantial overall reductions. Kings County recorded one of the sharpest drops statewide, at 26.7 percent.
The results, while still subject to verification by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, have given state leaders confidence that their broader strategy is working. Governor Gavin Newsom has touted the numbers as evidence that California is no longer standing still on homelessness. “Addressing encampments means more than just sweeping them up,” he said, pointing to investments in mental health treatment, expanded shelter space, and housing reforms.
The governor’s remarks also drew a contrast with President Trump, who has redirected National Guard members from other duties to clear encampments in cities like Washington, D.C. Newsom framed the difference as one of approach: California, he argued, is prioritizing support services and permanent housing, while the White House is focused on optics. “Militarizing a city is unconstitutional,” he said, calling the president’s orders a distraction from deeper policy needs.
Behind the numbers are a series of policy changes that have reshaped California’s approach. Voters last year approved Proposition 1, a $6.4 billion bond measure aimed at expanding behavioral health treatment facilities and supportive housing. The state has also updated conservatorship laws for the first time in decades and launched a CARE court system that allows judges to order treatment plans for people with serious mental illness or substance use disorders. Meanwhile, Newsom has signed housing reforms designed to accelerate construction and clear long-standing barriers in the state’s environmental law.
The stakes are high. Between 2014 and 2019, before Newsom took office, California’s unsheltered population rose by more than 37,000. Since then, the state has managed to slow that increase dramatically, even as other large states have seen their numbers surge. In 2024, while national homelessness rose by 18 percent, California limited its growth to just 3 percent, with the state recording the nation’s largest reduction in veteran homelessness and gains in youth services.
Final statewide numbers will not be released until December. Still, for a state often used as a shorthand for the national crisis, the preliminary results hint at something rare: momentum. After decades of drift, California appears to be testing whether a combination of housing, treatment, and accountability can shift what once seemed an immovable trend.
