California's homeless population fell nearly 3% over the past year, landing the state among five reporting significant decreases in a rare reversal of a decade-long trend, according to newly released federal data.
The Golden State counted 181,934 unhoused people in 2025, down from the prior year. While the state's decline was modest compared to Illinois (44%), Hawaii (41%), Florida (11%), and New York (8%), it marks tangible progress in a crisis that has defined Governor Gavin Newsom's tenure and dominated California politics.
Nationally, homelessness dropped 3% from 2024 to 2025, the first decline since 2016. On a single night in January 2025, the nation counted 745,652 homeless persons, according to the federally mandated point-in-time count that surveys people in shelters and sleeping outdoors.
Newsom intensified his anti-homelessness campaign over the past year, announcing a model ordinance in May 2025 for cities and counties to address "persistent" encampments and securing $3.3 billion in voter-approved funding for housing and drug treatment programs. The issue has become central to California's gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral races.
California and New York held the largest populations of unsheltered people in 2025, despite the recent improvements.
Administration pushback and policy concerns
The Trump administration moved quickly to minimize the significance of the one-year drop, instead highlighting that homelessness has surged 27% since 2013. HUD Secretary Scott Turner credited the administration's approach, stating in a press release that "the status quo of 'housing first' has failed to meaningfully reduce homelessness." Turner pledged HUD would "restore its programs to advance recovery and self-sufficiency."
The administration also attributed the 2025 decrease to its immigration policies, claiming reductions in "Sanctuary Cities" drove the national improvement.
Advocates for homeless services welcomed the data but warned that administration policies threaten to erase gains. Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, credited the 2025 improvements to targeted housing resources from 2024, particularly the Emergency Housing Voucher program and new rural homelessness funding.
"Unfortunately, the Trump Administration has largely deprioritized these tools and worked to dismantle the very systems that drove these reductions," Oliva said. The organization estimates proposed cuts to permanent housing programs would "force at least 170,000 formerly homeless people back on the streets."
The administration has mandated treatment for federal housing voucher recipients, penalized jurisdictions using harm-reduction approaches such as safe consumption sites, and in April 2026 introduced a proposed rule requiring federally funded shelters to house people based on birth sex alone.
Author James Rodriguez: "The data proves housing-focused strategies work, but the political machinery is already spinning the success into an argument for dismantling them."
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