The annual federal homeless count is being postponed. This is a big deal.

from Marissa KendallCalMatters

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Every December, the federal government publishes a report that reveals the number of homeless residents in every state and across the country.

It’s now May, and the report, which collects data from a census of the homeless, known as a “point-in-time count,” can’t be found.

This is a problem because the report dictates how funds are distributed in California and beyond. It also shapes policy decisions and provides the country’s main barometer of how the homelessness crisis is being managed.

The five-month delay has government officials, politicians and advocates scratching their heads. California has filled the gap by collecting its own data, shows a decline of 9%. in the number of people sleeping outside. But unlike the official federal report, California’s analysis omits information such as the race, age and mental health of the people who are counted. And without the full federal report, there’s no way to tell where California ranks compared to other states.

“This is a big deal,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, a spokesman for the National Homelessness Law Center. “This is, as far as I can tell, the most recent point-in-time census that has ever been released, including the years it was delayed during COVID.”

A “point in time” number.

For the past two decades, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has required local regions to conduct a census of the homeless population each year in a massive effort called the Census of the Moment. Volunteers come out walk for a day or two in January and count every person they see living outside. People sleeping in shelters are also counted. The enumerators also conduct surveys of a sample of unhoused people, collecting additional data on race, age, gender, time spent without a home, medical and mental health conditions, and more.

The count isn’t perfect (volunteers can easily miss people, and different counties use different methods), but it’s a key tool policymakers use to measure population changes.

Each jurisdiction (which is known in HUD parlance as the “continuum of care” and is usually made up of a county and its cities) must submit its count to HUD by spring. They also publish their local data to the public. Meanwhile, HUD checks the data, calculates the total for each state and for the country as a whole, sends a public report to Congress and uploads more detailed data on its website.

Although there is no statutory deadline, this report is usually issued in December of the census year. In 2021 and 2020, when COVID disrupted the census, reports came out in February and March, respectively.

It is not clear why the 2025 report has not yet been published. The report is so later than usual that some counties, including San Franciscohave already released their 2026 census data.

HUD declined to comment.

“It is confusing that HUD has not released this information,” Tara Gallegos, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said in a statement to CalMatters. “Perhaps the Trump administration is afraid to release clear data that shows California’s strategies to address this problem are actually extremely effective.”

What California’s data shows

California data shows a decline in homelessness, suggesting the state’s methods are it starts working. Data provided by the Newsom administration and repeated by an independent analysisshow an overall decline of 4% between 2024 and 2025 and a 9% decline in people sleeping in tents, on the pavement, in cars or in other non-habitable places.

This data comes from the 30 California Continuums of Care that counted homeless street residents last year. The remaining 14, which are counted this year instead (they are only required to count at least every other year), are not included.

“I think it shows that the headwinds in California continue to be very strong and continue to push more people into homelessness,” said Alex Wysocki, California senior policy fellow for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “but the investments to build a response to homelessness have made a really big difference and are moving people out of homelessness faster than ever.”

That runs counter to President Donald Trump’s platform, which has singled out California as an example of failed homelessness policy. California follows a principle called “housing first,” which prioritizes getting people into housing immediately and then referring them to their other needs (such as mental health and substance use help). The Trump administration wants to first end housing, which it says isn’t working, and instead deny housing until people enroll in addiction treatment or other programs.

California also uses most of its federal funds to pay for permanent housing, which experts say is the most effective way to end someone’s homelessness. The Trump administration recently tried to redirect that money to temporary shelters where people stay for a limited amount of time.

California Homelessness Strategy

California is one of the 19 states judicial the Trump administration on this change. The case continues, but in a victory for the statesA federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s changes.

Reducing homelessness in California would have a significant impact on the overall homeless population in the country. Nearly a quarter of all unhoused Americans lived in California by 2024 — a total of more than 187,000 people, according to HUD’s latest report.

New York Times found that homelessness also decreased in other places around the country last year, including Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Florida and Maine, which it found showed a nationwide decrease.

If homelessness declines nationwide in 2025, it will be the first time in eight years. In 2024, the national number reached 771,480 – an 18% increase on the previous year.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.