Homeless Population

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Citywide

San Franciscans think that homelessness is one of the biggest issues facing the City. To address the problem, we need to know how many people are homeless in San Francisco. This number helps us understand how many people need homeless services. It also helps tell us what types of services people need. 

Count of people experiencing homelessness 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that all communities who receive federal funding for homelessness services conduct a count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night once every two years. This is called the “Point-in-Time" (PIT) Count. San Francisco's latest PIT Count was held in February 2022. The number of people counted include:  

  • People sleeping outdoors, in cars, or in other places that are not meant for overnight use.  

  • People in shelters. 

Because HUD requires all communities to conduct a PIT Count, the results can be compared with other cities and analyzed over time. See our interactive benchmarking dashboards to learn more about San Francisco's homeless residents and see how we compare with other cities (note that these were last updated following the 2019 PIT Count). 

POINT-IN-TIME HOMELESS COUNTS, 2005 - 2022

Under the 2022 PIT Count, 7,754 people were experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. Of those people, 3,357 were staying in shelter. 

There was a 3.5% decrease in the total homeless population from 2019 – 2022. Of the total population of people experiencing homelessness, a larger proportion were in shelter. 

HOW PERFORMANCE IS MEASURED

San Francisco conducted the street count on February 23, 2022, from 8PM to midnight. It covered all 47 square miles of San Francisco. The shelter count uses administrative data for people staying in shelter on the same evening. The shelter count includes all people staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing.  

Applied Survey Research is working with the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to create the final report with more detailed data breakdowns. They anticipate this data will be available in July 2022. 

This final report will include more detailed information about people experiencing homelessness. This will include more detail about the homeless population including demographics, veteran status, and chronic homelessness. 

When more detail is available, it will be included on this page.  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION