Who is Homeless in the Bay Area

An unprecedented number of Bay Area residents are experiencing homelessness.

WHAT ARE THE PRIMARY DRIVERS OF HOMELESSNESS?

Every year – Bay Area providers help more and more people access permanent and temporary housing solutions.

THERE ARE 35,551 PERMANENT HOUSING BEDS AND EMERGENCY HOUSING BEDS ACROSS THE BAY AREA

Yet the economic and structural causes of homelessness continue to outpace efforts to address the issue.

Economic Factors

When individuals experiencing homeless identify the reasons they are homeless, the primary causes are economic – i.e., job loss, rent increases, eviction and/or foreclosure. Approximately one out of three reasons are financial. And in some Bay Area counties, it is closer to half (e.g., Marin County)

In the seven Bay Area counties that ask about causes of homelessness, job loss was the top reason in five out of seven of the communities.

Poverty

The Bay Area counties comprise some of the wealthiest in California and the nation. Yet over half a million people in the nine Bay Area counties were living below the federal poverty line in 2019. (For 2021, that means income of less than $26,500 for a family of four).

Many Bay Area households are living paycheck to paycheck. As a result, a single crisis – an expensive medical bill, lost wages to care for a family member, reduction in work hours or a job loss – can result in the loss of home.

Pre-COVID-19, at the end of December 2020, there were more than one quarter of a million people unemployed in the Bay Area. (See graph above: Racial/Ethnic Demograpics)

The Economic Policy Institute has a Family Budget Calculator that “measures the income a family needs in order to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living.” They evaluate costs for housing, food, childcare, transportation, health care, other necessities and taxes. The amount of money a family of four would need to maintain an adequate standard of living in each of the nine Bay Area counties sharply contrasts the resources that many low- and moderate-income families have available to them in the Bay Area.

BUDGET FOR A FAMILY OF 4 IN THE BAY AREA

COUNTY:

All Bay Area

Alameda

Contra Costa

Marin

Napa

San Francisco

San Mateo

Santa Clara

Solano

Sonoma

Housing

2386

Food

928

Child Care

1503

Transportation

1264

Health Care

1110

Other Necessities

1337

Taxes

1948

Monthly Total

Annual Total

Recent data suggests that poverty in the Bay Area is underestimated because the federal measure does not take into account the cost of living or receipt of government assistance. Based on the supplemental poverty measure (SPM) calculated for six of the nine Bay area counties, the percent of poverty in the Bay is actually much higher.

Housing is unaffordable for a huge percentage of people in the Bay Area. Close to half of all renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing

There is not enough affordable housing in the Bay Area for households that need it (including people who pay more than they can afford, people who are at risk of becoming homeless, and people experiencing homelessness).

2019 VLI and ELI Affordable Shortfall/Deficit by County

2019 New Affordable Housing Production

Total Bay Area

222,273

6,890

Alameda

51,732

933

Contra Costa

33,477

Marin

9,465

71

Napa

2,989

227

San Francisco

23,765

2,079

San Mateo

21,098

299

Santa Clara

53,406

1,566

Solano

9,516

351

Sonoma

16,825

408

Warning: Undefined variable $morph_count in /home/housingimpact/www/www/wp-content/themes/hbportal/template-parts/blocks/sticky-block.php on line 409

There is not enough affordable housing in the Bay Area for households that need it (including people who pay more than they can afford, people who are at risk of becoming homeless, and people experiencing homelessness).

Warning: Undefined variable $morph_count in /home/housingimpact/www/www/wp-content/themes/hbportal/template-parts/blocks/sticky-block.php on line 409

All of the nine Bay Area counties had estimated deficits of affordable housing for very low-income (VLI) and extremely low-income (ELI) households in 2017.

Warning: Undefined variable $morph_count in /home/housingimpact/www/www/wp-content/themes/hbportal/template-parts/blocks/sticky-block.php on line 409

At the current rate of production, it will take 32 years to produce enough affordable units to meet the Bay Area’s growing need if all current affordable units are preserved.

Across the Bay Area, minimum wage is not enough to pay for housing. A two-parent family of four in a two-bedroom apartment living on two minimum wage jobs struggles to afford rent.

Systemic racism and disability discrimination are factors in impacting housing affordability. When we look at housing and income data by race and disability, we see the burden of housing costs for these population are much greater.

People who are Black and Hispanic/Latin(a)(o)(x) are more likely to be housing cost burdened and severely housing cost burdened.

59% of Black renter households and 55% of Hispanic/Latin(a)(o)(x) spend 30% or more of their income on rent compared to 48% across all races.

34% of Black households spend more than 50% of their income on rent compared to the averages for the general Bay Area population of 24%.

While race is a significant factor in housing security, disability status is also a significant factor. People with disabilities or households who have at least one member with a disability are more likely to be ELI than households that don’t include people with disabilities.

With economics being a primary driver of homelessness and a significant deficit in affordable housing for the Bay Area, the question really should be “Why aren’t there more people experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area?”

WHAT IS THE BAY AREA DOING IN RESPONSE TO THE HOMELESSNESS CRISIS?

The Bay Area homeless systems of care support a large number of people each night.

The number of permanent housing resources available in the Bay Area continues to increase. Permanent housing solutions such as short term and long-term rental subsidies and site-based housing units have increased by almost 50% since 2015.

There are still a greater number of people who need housing resources than the Bay Area’s available resources. While people wait for limited resources, we need to create safe spaces for people to survive. At the same time, we need to ensure that newly developed affordable housing units and rehabilitated units are set aside for very low-income (VLI) and extremely low-income (ELI) households.

CONCLUSION/ SUMMARY
THE STORY IN 5 POINTS

1. Homelessness is increasing and it is happening to Black, American Indian, and multi-racial households at much higher rates.
2. While there are many factors contributing to homelessness, economics is the primary driver. Again, people of color and those with disabilities are disproportionately burdened by housing costs when compared to other groups.
3. Poverty is a much bigger problem in the Bay Area than the federal poverty level might suggest. Over one million people in the Bay Area are living in poverty.
4. With rents and cost of living high, there is a deficit of close to a quarter million affordable housing units, which should be targeted toward households with no-income and or extremely low incomes.
5. Homeless systems of care in the Bay Area support more than 30,000 people every night with shelter and housing, while more than 25,000 people sleep outside.