Why do people become homeless in Alameda County?

Oakland’s homeless population grew by 9% over the past two years, while the county’s overall unhoused population shrunk slightly. Credit: Pete Rosos

Homelessness dropped slightly across Alameda County over the past two years, but for more than half of the population, it’s the first time they’re experiencing life on the streets or in shelters. In other words, more people are finding housing, but many others are becoming unhoused or languishing for years outside.

A clearer picture of the local homeless population has emerged from a report published by the county this week. The 90-page study is the result of calculations and surveys conducted during the January 2024 Point-in-Time Count. Every two years, as required by federal law, government workers and volunteers tally and interview people living outside and in shelters on one single night.

Initial numbers were released in May — showing Oakland’s unhoused population (5,490 people) grew by 9% since 2022 while the county’s (9,450) dropped by 3% — but the new report digs deeper into the makeup of unhoused residents and explores why they don’t have housing.

“The 2024 count was the most ambitious count ever undertaken in Alameda County,” the report’s authors say. But they acknowledge the one-night study is “only one piece of data used to understand who is experiencing homelessness in our community.” 

The new insights also come at a potential turning point for local homelessness. The count is the first to take place since the eviction moratorium ended and tenants lost protections. And it was the last to take place before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass case made it easier for cities to close homeless camps and impose criminal penalties on residents, even when no shelter is available. 

Black men are overrepresented in Alameda County’s homeless population

Oakland is home to a quarter of Alameda County residents yet more than half of the unhoused population. The city has seen an explosion of people lacking housing over the past decade. That rate of growth slowed between 2022-2024, but it didn’t stop. Whereas across the county, the 3% drop was the first decrease since 2013.

According to the PIT Count, 57% of the unhoused population in the county is experiencing homelessness for the first time, up from 31% in 2022. Seventeen percent of the overall homeless population has been unhoused for under a year. Conversely, 37% of the population is considered chronically homeless. These estimates are based on a 1,500-person survey that was part of the count.

James Vann, a leader of the Homeless Advocacy Working Group, speculated that the boost in first-time homelessness is due to the end of the eviction moratorium. For three years, the COVID-19 policy prohibited most evictions. When Alameda County and Oakland lifted their bans in mid-2023, eviction attempts skyrocketed. 

But of the people living without permanent housing in the county, more have moved indoors; the sheltered homeless population saw a 19% increase. It’s the first time in 15 years that the sheltered rate has increased while unsheltered homelessness fell. This is probably because multiple new shelters were opened with COVID-19 relief money starting in 2020.

“As we look at the overall picture in Alameda County, we can see that our investments addressing systemic homelessness are starting to have noticeably positive effects,” said Jonathan Russell, the county’s homelessness director, in a press release. “This can show us the blueprint for where our next phase of investments should be applied.”

Vann and his group have raised concerns about the accuracy of this year’s count. They noted in a letter to the county that the count followed several days of rain. 

“So many of the sites that our team visited did not have people, and the sleeping materials were wet,” Vann said, speculating that residents typically living outside might have sought shelter or temporarily left for unnoticeable, covered locations, resulting in an undercount.

More than half of the unsheltered people tallied this year were living in vehicles. Oakland runs two RV parks, one on Wood Street and one on 66th Avenue.

The homeless population overall is disproportionately male and Black. In Oakland, 53% of unhoused residents are Black, the report estimates. This is down from recent years but still hugely outsized in a city where Black people make up 22% of the population. 

People age 55 and over make up about a quarter of the county’s homeless population, similar to their representation generally. Across the state, older residents are the fastest-growing segment of homelessness, and face disproportionate health risks without a stable home.

It’s a myth that homeless people move to Alameda County for services and leniency

A memorial at an E. 12th Street encampment for people who died on the streets. Homeless people have a far greater mortality rate. Credit: Amir Aziz

The new report dispels a persistent myth that homeless people flock to the East Bay, seeking laissez-faire policies and warmer weather. Instead, 80% of Oakland homeless residents surveyed said they had a permanent residence in Alameda County before becoming homeless.

Why do many people become homeless? The county survey revealed a range of reasons. A loss of housing, whether through eviction, foreclosure, or something else, was the most commonly reported reason, reflecting 35% of cases. Job loss, at 22%, was the second most common.

The survey looked at employment, finding that a striking 90% of unsheltered people — a subset of the overall homeless population — do not have jobs. Yet only 3% of them said they don’t want to work. Many said they can’t because of health problems.

Homeless people are at greater risk of health issues and death than housed residents. Sometimes health issues are the precipitating event for homelessness, like a disability that prevents a person from working and affording rent. In other cases, illnesses and disabilities are acquired on the streets where health hazards abound, such as exposure to freezing temperatures, or violence.

In this year’s survey, 60% of respondents reported having a disability, 35% reported a serious mental illness, and 29% reported having a substance use disorder. Nearly one-third reported experiencing domestic violence at some point in their lives. 

The county’s Health Care for the Homeless program holds an annual memorial for people who’ve died while unhoused. A first-of-its-kind report by the program found that 800 homeless people died in the county between 2018-2020, at a rate more than four times that of the general population.

While the county and Oakland have more than doubled the number of shelter beds since 2019, there are still far fewer spots than the number of people that could use them. Yet on the cold winter night when the count was conducted, those shelters were not completely occupied (though they were nearly so). Why not? The new report suggests a number of reasons, most commonly that residents find the shelters too crowded or are resistant to their curfews. The survey also found that 30% of homeless people have pets, while only some shelters allow them.

For Vann, the longtime advocate, the report is “a condemnation of the city’s policies.” He’s skeptical that the count captures the full scale of homelessness, but said it’s a “reflection of the fact that there is still a sizable number of people that are unhoused.”