California reported a total unhoused population of 181,934 in 2025, a 2.8% decrease from 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) annual report. The state was among the five with the largest declines in homelessness nationwide between those years.
The 2025 figures relied partially on 2024 data, as 14 of California’s 44 continuums of care did not conduct a point-in-time count in 2025. HUD used the prior year’s submissions for those communities in compiling the statewide total. Nationally, homelessness declined by 3.3% from 2024 to 2025—the first such drop since 2016—with 745,652 people counted on a single night in January 2025.
In May 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom announced $3.3 billion in voter-approved funding to expand housing and drug treatment programs. He also released a model ordinance for local governments to address persistent homeless encampments. Officials attributed California’s decline to faster housing placements, new housing openings, coordinated systems to match individuals with units, and increased street outreach. Seventeen communities in the state reported reductions in chronic homelessness, including Los Angeles County, which counted 2,394 fewer chronically homeless individuals.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a press release, “The data is clear that the status quo of ‘housing first’ has failed to meaningfully reduce homelessness, resulting in crisis levels of people living on the streets.” He added, “HUD is restoring its programs to advance recovery and self-sufficiency and to ensure that taxpayer-funded benefits serve American families.” Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, offered a contrasting view: “So much of the progress reflected in the 2025 PIT Count is due to targeted housing and service resources that were available in 2024 to rehouse people, including the highly successful Emergency Housing Voucher program, and new funds to address rural and unsheltered homelessness.” She also said, “Unfortunately, the Trump Administration has largely deprioritized these tools and worked to dismantle the very systems that drove these reductions.”
California is one of 19 states suing the Trump administration over efforts to redirect homelessness funding from permanent housing toward temporary shelters. The HUD report, released in 2025 after a five-month delay, did not mention sanctuary cities. California and New York continued to have the largest unsheltered populations in the country.