COUNTY OF SAN MATEO
2024 One Day Homeless Count and Survey
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
MAY 2024
2024 County of San Mateo One Day Homeless Count and Survey | Executive Summary 2
INTRODUCTION
This executive summary provides an overview of key results from the County of San Mateo’s 2024 One Day Homeless Count and Survey (the “Count”). The County’s Human Services Agency (HSA) coordinates the Count in collaboration with community and County partners. The 2024 Count was conducted in the early morning hours of Thursday, January 25, 2024, and in-depth surveys were collected over the course of the following week. Approximately 300 volunteers consisting of community-based providers, members of the public, City and County staff, and community expert guides conducted observational counts and surveys of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in each census tract in the county. The County conducts the Count every two years, although the 2021 count was postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19.
The results of the Count provide one source of data, among many others, to help the County and its partners assess how best to serve households experiencing homelessness and assist them with returning to housing as quickly as possible. The results are also submitted to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which compiles data from homeless counts nationwide. The Count provides data that helps inform policymakers and providers about the homeless population and trends over time.
NUMBER OF PEOPLE EXPERIENCING
HOMELESSNESS
The 2024 Count found 2,130 people experiencing homelessness in San Mateo County on the night of January 24, 2024. This number includes:
• 1,145 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness staying on the streets, in cars, in recreational vehicles (RVs), or in tents
• 985 people experiencing sheltered homelessness staying in emergency shelters and transitional housing programs
The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in 2024 increased by 53 people (5%) compared to 2022. The number of people staying in shelter in 2024 increased by 269 people (38%) from 2022, driven by additional emergency shelter capacity that had been created by the County. So, looking at the total point-in-time count (including both unsheltered and sheltered), the finding of 2,130 people experiencing homelessness on the night of the Count is an increase of 322 people (18%) from the 2022 Count.
2024 County of San Mateo One Day Homeless Count and Survey | Executive Summary 3 Charts 1-3 below show the number of people experiencing unsheltered and sheltered homelessness according to One Day Homeless Count data from 2013 to 2024.
CHART 1. ONE DAY HOMELESS COUNT – UNSHELTERED COUNT OVER TIME Sheltered
Unsheltered
1,299
775
637
901
1,092 1,145
0 200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2024
2022
Between 2022 and 2024, unsheltered homelessness in the County increased by 5%, which is smaller than the 21% increase between 2019 and 2022.
CHART 2. ONE DAY HOMELESS COUNT – SHELTERED COUNT OVER TIME Uhltd
703 708
616 611
716
985
0 200
400
600
800
1000
1200
2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2024
Between 2022 and 2024, sheltered homelessness increased by 38%, driven by increased shelter capacity within the County.
2024 County of San Mateo One Day Homeless Count and Survey | Executive Summary 4 CHART 3. ONE DAY HOMELESS COUNT – TOTAL OVER TIME
703 708 616 611 716
1,299
775
637 901
1,092
2,002
1,483
1,253
1,512
1,808
0 500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2013 2015 2017 2019 2022
Sheltered
Unsheltered
985
1,145
2,130
2024
Between 2022 and 2024, the total count of people experiencing homelessness increased by 18%, driven primarily by an increase in people experiencing sheltered homelessness.
UNSHELTERED SLEEPING LOCATIONS
The charts below show the categories of sleeping locations for individuals who were unsheltered on the night of the 2024 Count and a breakdown of sleeping locations for the Counts from 2013 to 2024.
CHART 4. LOCATIONS OF UNSHELTERED PERSONS IN 2024 COUNT Street
222
(19%)
Car/Van
356
(31%)
RV
460
(40%)
Tent/Makeshift
Shelter
77 (7%)
Other
30 (3%)
2024 County of San Mateo One Day Homeless Count and Survey | Executive Summary 5 CHART 5. UNSHELTERED HOMELESS COUNT OVER TIME
353 331
127 157 175 222
231
157
197 184
329
356
392
151
218
494
287
460
323
136
95 66 177
77 22
30 102
1,299
775
637
901
1,092 1,145
2013 2015 2017 2019 2022 2024
Safe Parking
Other
Tent/
Makeshift Shelter
RV
Car/Van
Street
*“Safe Parking” is a type of program that serves people who are residing in their vehicles. The program provides a safe designated place for people to stay in their vehicle as well as supportive services to assist the residents with working on returning to housing.
At the time of the 2019 and earlier Counts, there were no Safe Parking programs in San Mateo County, and at the time of the 2022 Count, there were two Safe Parking programs which served people living in RVs. At the time of the 2024 Count, there was one Safe Parking program that operates as a scattered site program, so households enrolled in the Safe Parking program were included in the unsheltered count.
*“Other” includes abandoned buildings, boats, and other types of vehicles/structures that are not captured under Safe Parking, RV, and Car/Van. Enhanced data collection tools in the 2024 Count allowed for improved tracking of these type of other unsheltered situations, compared to previous years.
2024 County of San Mateo One Day Homeless Count and Survey | Executive Summary 6
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
The following table summarizes the geographic locations of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness reflected in the Counts from 2013 to 2024.
CHART 6. UNSHELTERED HOMELESS COUNT BY JURISDICTION
Geographic Place 2013
Count
2015
Count
2017
Count
2019
Count
2022
Count
2024
Count
Atherton 0 1 0 1 3 2
Belmont 43 11 3 7 13 22
Brisbane 34 21 19 4 6 11
Burlingame 13 7 21 25 10 40
Colma 7 3 1 8 1 11
Daly City 27 32 17 66 49 72
East Palo Alto 119 95 98 107 169 81
Foster City 7 0 6 4 4 4
Half Moon Bay 114 84 43 54 68 20
Hillsborough 0 0 0 0 0 0
Menlo Park 16 27 47 27 56 74
Millbrae 21 8 7 9 9 22
Pacifica 150 63 112 116 161 180
Portola Valley 2 0 1 0 0 0
Redwood City 306 223 94 221 245 189
San Bruno 98 8 26 12 63 75
San Carlos 10 20 28 30 14 29
San Francisco Int. Airport 5 1 3 21 14 23
San Mateo 103 82 48 74 60 95
South San Francisco 172 55 33 42 42 79
Unincorporated 46 32 30 73 105 114
Coastside 22 22 60 62 105
North 0 3 6 7 0
Central 0 0 0 0 0
South 10 5 7 36 9
Woodside 6 2 0 0 0 2
Total 1,299 775 637 901 1,092 1,145
2024 County of San Mateo One Day Homeless Count and Survey | Executive Summary 7
CONCLUSION
The overall finding from the Count is that 2,130 individuals were experiencing homelessness on the night of the Count, which represents an increase of 18% from 2022 to 2024. The overall increase is primarily driven by an increase of 38% in sheltered individuals, while unsheltered homelessness increased by 5%.
The County and its partners have expanded homeless services in recent years, including expansions in shelters, as well as expansions in homeless outreach services, permanent housing resources, and enhanced connections between health services and homeless services. Since 2022, the County has opened two additional non-congregate shelters—the Navigation Center and El Camino House—which has created additional capacity to provide safe shelter and intensive support services to help residents move into permanent housing.
The County continues to implement strategies to increase affordable housing through new construction with set-aside units for the formerly homeless population, the Affordable Housing Fund, Homekey projects, County Housing Voucher Program, and rental vouchers. The County also continues to implement strategies such as investing in homeless prevention services, expanding homeless outreach and case management services to serve unsheltered individuals, and tailoring services to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness who have complex health conditions.
*Published by the County of San Mateo’s Human Services Agency. Data analysis by Focus Strategies. For more information, please visit https://www.smcgov.org/hsa/center-homelessness.
Please visit
https://www.smcgov.org/hsa/center-homelessness
for more information.