Continuums of Care (CoC) are regional or local planning bodies that coordinate housing and services for homeless families and individuals. Houston, Texas is part of a regional CoC that covers Harris, Montgomery and Fort Bend Counties.  Per the 2020 US Census, these counties had a combined population of 6,174,367 persons, most of whom live in the greater Houston metro area.  For the sake of brevity, I will refer to these three counties as the “Houston” in this post. 

The Houston Homeless Count found 3,223 persons experiencing homelessness on the day of its 2022 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, or approximately one out of 1,916 residents.  

San Francisco has its own CoC planning body. Its PIT Homeless Count of 2022 found 7,754 individuals experiencing homelessness. With a population of 815,201 (2021), that would be a homelessness rate of approximately one out of 105 residents.  In other words, San Francisco’s rate is close to 20 times higher than the homelessness rate of the Houston.

But there was a time when Houston’s homeless population was much higher and the difference between Houston and San Francisco was not so extreme. Take a look:

Now, San Francisco:

In a nutshell, since 2011 Houston’s homelessness problem has gotten way better and San Francisco’s has gotten worse. San Francisco’s cost of housing obviously has something to do with it, but it was already an expensive town in 2011. And Houston has plenty of cheap housing, but wasn’t that also the case in 2011? The question is why Houston has been more successful in tackling homelessness than San Francisco over the past decade. Perhaps Houston does a better job of housing the homeless? Judging from the following chart, they do a pretty good job.

That’s 7,956 individuals housed in Houston over a three-year period. How did San Francisco do over the same period. Unfortunately, the San Francisco CoC didn’t include a chart in their 2022 report, nor did they provide specific numbers of homeless individuals placed for categories of housing. Instead, they tell us “Over 8,000 households exited homelessness from January 2019 to January 2022 through Permanent Supportive Housing, Rapid Rehousing, Prevention and Problem Solving interventions (including relocation assistance).”

Hmmm…since the individuals in the homeless counts are already homeless, why did San Francisco include “prevention” as a program that helped individuals exit homelessness? Prevention targets people who are not yet homeless but are in danger of becoming so. And the use of “household” is odd, given the Counts are of individuals and, to a lesser extent, families. Plus, to have “exited” homelessness doesn’t tell us if that exiting had anything to do with San Francisco’s programs. Exiting homelessness is not the same as being placed in housing. Maybe they found housing on their own. Either way, the San Francisco numbers are vague. Why not provide specific numbers that connect a specific housing program with the number placed, during a specific year, like Houston? It’s almost as if San Francisco has something to hide.

References:

San Francisco Homeless Count and Survey, 2022 Comprehensive Report. https://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2022-PIT-Count-Report-San-Francisco-Updated-8.19.22.pdf

The Way Home Continuum of Care 2022 Homeless Count & Survey Analysis. Prepared by Catherine Troisi, MS., PhD, UTHealth School of Public Health and Ana Rausch, MA, Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County. March 2022. https://www.houstontx.gov/mayor/press/2022/Homeless-Count-2022.pdf