Sacramento, California – Sacramento’s latest homelessness count offers a difficult but important picture: while homelessness across the county has grown, fewer people are living outdoors inside the city.
The 2026 Point-in-Time Count, released May 13 by the nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward, found that unsheltered homelessness in the city of Sacramento dropped by 19% from 2024. The count identified 2,463 people living without shelter in the city earlier this year, down from 3,053 last year — a reduction of nearly 600 people.
The decline is even sharper when measured over a longer period. Since the 2022 PIT Count, Sacramento has seen a 50% decrease in the number of people living on city streets.
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City leaders said the progress reflects several connected efforts: more local shelter beds, a data-driven response from the Department of Community Response, and the Incident Management Team’s work combining outreach with real-time compliance efforts.
Since the 2024 count, shelter capacity in the city has grown by more than 500 beds or units. That includes expansion at the Outreach and Engagement Center, the launch of the Roseville Road Service Campus and the Stockton Boulevard Safe Stay, which is operated in partnership with Sacramento County.
The city also launched its Street to Housing pilot program, which has helped more than 120 people move directly from encampments into apartments. The Roseville Road Service Campus, Stockton Boulevard Safe Stay and Street to Housing program are supported by State of California Encampment Resolution Funds, which target specific areas for outreach and sheltering.
For example, the Roseville Road expansion supports people who had been living along the Sacramento Northern Parkway, while the Stockton Boulevard Safe Stay shelters people from the Alhambra and X Street corridors.
“The State’s partnership, combined with the City’s strategic investments and coordinated response, is helping more people move indoors and improving conditions across Sacramento,” said Brian Pedro, who leads DCR and the IMT.
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Pedro said DCR and IMT crews now operate seven days a week. So far in 2026, they have received more than 10,000 calls for service, made 2,300 engagements with unsheltered residents, obtained compliance with city laws and ordinances more than 5,000 times and cleaned up more than 1.1 million pounds of garbage.
“They really are the operational engines, making our response system stronger than it has ever been,” he said.
Still, the regional numbers show the challenge is far from solved. Across Sacramento County, the total number of people experiencing homelessness rose 13%, from 6,615 in 2024 to 7,458 in 2026. Of that total, 3,253 people were in shelter or transitional housing, a 22% increase from 2024.
“This year’s data shows that recent investments in shelter and coordinated access are making a meaningful difference,” said Lisa Bates, CEO of Sacramento Steps Forward. “More people are accessing shelter and connecting to services in prior years. At the same time, shelter alone is not enough to resolve homelessness. To build on this progress, our community must continue expanding pathways from homelessness to permanent housing through sustained investments in housing, prevention and coordinated access.”
Mayor Kevin McCarty called the count “a mixed bag,” pointing to fewer unsheltered residents and stronger service connections while stressing the need for continued regional collaboration.
The count also showed more people with serious mental illness and chronic homelessness entering sheltered settings, while veteran homelessness declined overall. Nearly 800 trained volunteers conducted the 2026 count over two nights in January, and Sacramento Steps Forward said it plans to conduct the count annually moving forward.