COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Chuen Wu, Assistant City Manager
DATE: November 4, 2025
SUBJECT: Homelessness and Encampment Response
The City Council will receive a presentation on homelessness and ongoing efforts of encampment response.
BACKGROUND:
Homelessness and encampment response remain a statewide issue and concern, including in the city of Santa Maria and surrounding areas. The point-in-time count for Santa Maria in 2025 reports that 459 individuals were experiencing homelessness. Of these individuals, 243 were reported as being sheltered, 160 were reported as unsheltered, and 56 were reported as living in vehicles. This is comparable to 2024 , in which the point -in-time count reported 424 individuals who were experiencing homelessness with 189 reported sheltered, 138 reported unsheltered, and 97 reported living in vehicles. In comparing the two years, we see more individuals living in shelters and fewer living in their vehicles. Note that the point-in-time count is reflective of a single night in January and should be understood along with what is generally observed in our community.
DISCUSSION:
Police officers of the Community Services Unit continue to respond to calls of service involving homelessness and transient issues, including trespassing, littering, stealing, fighting, unlawful camping, parking recreation vehicles over 72 hours, etc . They receive approximately 5,000 calls annually. Th e officers are proactive in providing contact information for services to unsheltered residents who may be seeking help.
The Rangers continue to patrol the parks and the riverbed daily, clean up the trash left behind by encampments in parks, medians, or la ndscaped areas, and like the police, provide contact information for services to unhoused residents who may be seeking help.
Santa Barbara County is providing funding for half of the costs of Ranger monitoring of the Santa Maria riverbed.
Representatives of both the Police and the Rangers will present an update on the encampment response.