Worse than Seattle: Sacramento has more chronically homeless than nearly any place in America
Despite millions of dollars being spent to combat the crisis, Sacramento County’s population of chronically homeless individuals is now the third-highest in the nation.
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual assessment of local homeless counts found that Sacramento County’s chronically homeless population of 4,003 trails only Los Angeles and New York City. The population of chronically homeless in the county of 1.59 million was slightly higher than two counties with larger overall populations: Seattle’s King County (2.27 million) and Santa Clara County in the Bay Area (1.94 million).
HUD’s assessment also found that roughly 72% of the people experiencing homelessness in Sacramento County are unsheltered, the fifth-highest percentage in the nation. Every region in the top five in that category is in California. A homeless individual is considered unsheltered if their “primary nighttime location is a public or private place not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for people (for example, the streets, vehicles, or parks),” according to the HUD report.
Of the 1,285 people in families experiencing homelessness in Sacramento County, roughly 37% were unsheltered.
The figures cited in HUD’s analysis came from point-in-time counts across the country, when homeless service providers and volunteers conduct one-night surveys of local homeless populations. The last count in Sacramento took place in January 2022. The next count in Sacramento will be conducted Jan. 24 and 25.
Sacramento officials argue they have made progress on addressing the region’s most severe crisis.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Sacramento has seen significant increases over the past year in the number of homeless individuals being moved from shelters to permanent housing, and an even larger increase in the number of people “getting off the streets into temporary shelter or housing.”
“I’m thankful for the progress we’ve made and look forward to more progress in the years ahead,” the mayor said in an email.
There are roughly 2,220 shelter beds in the city and county, but those beds are typically occupied on most nights.
Other parts of the region also ranked low in HUD’s assessment.
El Dorado County was found to have the highest percentage of homeless people who are unsheltered among all of the nation’s “largely suburban” areas, HUD found. An estimated 89% of the county’s 491 homeless people are living outdoors or in vehicles.
In the Yuba City area, roughly 53% of homeless people in families were unsheltered, among the highest percentages in the nation for suburban regions.
