Homelessness By The Numbers
As Sacramento grows, the city struggles to house all its people. Rising average monthly rent often exceeds what residents can pay. Black people are often more susceptible to housing instability.
SACRAMENTO CITY AND COUNTY CONTINUUM OF CARE 2024 PREPARED BY SACRAMENTO STEPS FORWARD
- Black individuals are 3.7 times more likely to experience homelessness than the average Sacramentan, while Asian individuals are 8.2 times less likely.
- American Indians and Alaska natives are 5.6 times more likely to experience homelessness.
- Some 6,615 people were estimated to be experiencing homelessness during the biennial 2024 Point-in-Time Count, a 28.7% decrease from 2022.
- Most unhoused people were white (42%), followed by Black (33%), Hispanic (15%), multiracial (5%), American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN, 2%), Asian (2%), Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (1%), and Middle Eastern (~0%) individuals.
While the overall population grows, the unhoused rate remains the same. It takes a community working together to make a long-term impact on the housing crisis.
There are folks working daily to help the people impacted by the housing crisis. Poor People’s Campaign organizer Faye Wilson Kennedy provided the below statistics that paint a sobering picture of what she and other advocates and service providers face.
- In 2024, Black residents were 35% of Sacramento’s homeless population, despite being only 9% of the county’s total population.
- That percentage is four percentage points greater than in the 2022 Point-in-Time Count (31%) and represents a greater overrepresentation compared to the state average of 26% for Black individuals experiencing homelessness.
- Black families are also disproportionately represented among the unhoused, with nearly 60% of homeless individuals in households with children being Black.
- Black residents are more likely to struggle to afford housing in Sacramento, with 22% reporting they cannot afford their rent or mortgage, compared with 7.2% of all survey respondents.
- Black people are overrepresented in Sacramento’s homeless deaths, with 20% of unhoused deaths in 2023 being Black individuals, more than double their proportion in the county’s general population.
The rate of chronic homelessness and individuals with disabilities has doubled since 2019, and Black people are particularly affected by prolonged periods of homelessness.
Many Black individuals and families are on long waiting lists for shelters and housing programs, making access to support difficult…