The number of Bay Area residents experiencing homelessness fell in much of the region in the last two years, with some counties reporting that their unhoused populations had returned to pre-pandemic levels.
One county, though — one of the region’s wealthiest — stands out for edging narrowly in the opposite direction.
As of this week, six Bay Area counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Sonoma — had reported the results of their homelessness counts, conducted in a single night in January. Those counties tallied a total of about 23,000 people this year, down from the roughly 25,700 counted during the last region-wide effort in 2024.
Because those numbers are based on data collected in a single night, the true number of people living on the streets, in vehicles or in temporary shelters is doubtless much higher, experts say. And differences in methodology and resources can blur apples-to-apples comparisons between counts — San Francisco, for example, held this year’s tally in the morning instead of at night, a shift from its historical practice…