Quick Take
Santa Cruz County released its 2026 point-in-time count results on Wednesday, which show an increase in homelessness over 2025, but a level still well beneath the 2022 peak. The results show that more local residents are falling into homelessness for the first time, and chronically unhoused people continue facing steep struggles in securing permanent housing.
Homelessness in Santa Cruz County rose roughly 12% in 2026, to an estimated 1,648 people, though the total remains well below the county’s 2022 peak of 2,229.
The county released its 2026 point-in-time count results on Wednesday afternoon. The PIT count is a federally required effort intended to assess the state of homelessness in the county. While counties have the option to count every other year, Santa Cruz County has chosen to do it annually since 2021. This year’s count took place on Jan. 29.
The 2026 estimate is a roughly 12% increase over 2025, when there were an estimated 1,473 people experiencing homelessness throughout the county — the lowest level ever recorded. It is also still below historic levels, and well below the highest number ever recorded — 2,299 in 2022.
A media release from the Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Division says that the increase is likely due in large part to a change in methodology. This year, the count included people in county safe parking and safe sleeping programs, who were not included in past years. That added an additional 126 individuals to the count. The county also put more focus on finding youth between ages 15 and 24 experiencing homelessness, which saw that demographic rise from 24 in 2025 to 86 in 2026.
The report also shows some concerning developments. More local residents appear to be falling into homelessness for the first time — including those who have lived in Santa Cruz for extended periods of time. The results show that 50% of respondents reported experiencing homelessness for the first time, higher than the 40% in 2025. More people, 93% of respondents, were living in Santa Cruz County when they lost their housing, up from 78% in 2025. According to the results, 70% of respondents had lived in Santa Cruz County for 10 years or more.
The results also examine the barriers that people face when trying to secure permanent housing. Of the respondents, 76% said they can’t afford rent, 70% said they don’t have a job or don’t have enough income, and 42% said that they have no money for moving costs.
The age groups most represented among the unhoused population were 45-to-54-year-olds and 35-to-44-year-olds, according to the report’s executive summary. Those groups made up 27% and 25% of the total unhoused population, respectively. Of the respondents, 83% said they receive government benefits and 71% said they have some kind of disabling condition. Respondents reported psychiatric conditions most often at 52%, substance use disorder was second at 45% and post traumatic stress disorder was third at 42%.
“This year’s findings show that more local residents are experiencing homelessness for the first time, and nearly all were living in Santa Cruz County when they lost housing,” said Robert Ratner, director of the Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Division in the release. “These results reinforce the need to invest in integrated health and housing services, as well as low-income housing including for seniors and people with disabilities. We also need to redouble our homelessness prevention and housing retention efforts.”
View the full report here.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.
