More than four years after Alameda County voters narrowly approved a sales tax measure to address the area’s growing homelessness crisis, the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday adopted a plan for allocating more than $1 billion over the coming years.
The board’s unanimous vote comes after a prolonged legal battle that, until recently, had prevented the county from spending any of the new tax revenue to address one of the region’s most pressing issues.
Alameda County’s homeless population grew 18% from 2019 to 2024, when it reached an estimated 9,450 people, according to the latest homelessness census. Over that same five years, the number of people living unsheltered across the county, including in tents, vehicles and other makeshift shelters, nearly doubled from 1,710 to 3,107. Oakland is home to more than half of the county’s homeless population…