San Francisco's 2026 Point-in-Time homeless count found 327 veterans experiencing homelessness, down 44% from 585 in 2024, according to preliminary results the city announced on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.
The city's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing attributes the decline mainly to a 55% drop in the number of unsheltered veterans. The department said a full report with deeper analysis and demographic detail would follow later in the summer. As of Friday, October 9, 2026, that report had not appeared on the city's Point-in-Time count page.
The city's full 2024 report gave a slightly different baseline, an estimated 587 veterans experiencing homelessness that year, and found that 80% of the veterans surveyed during that count were unsheltered.
The citywide picture
The drop among veterans was far steeper than the change citywide. Across all groups, the count found 7,973 people experiencing homelessness, down 4% from 8,323 in 2024. The unsheltered count fell 22%, from 4,354 people to 3,400, which the city says is the lowest since 2011. Of everyone counted, 57% were sheltered, the highest share the city has recorded. Family homelessness moved the other way, rising 15%.
"I'm proud to announce incredible progress: Unsheltered homelessness in San Francisco is down 22% to its lowest level in 15 years, the number of people in tents is down 85%, and homelessness is down overall," Mayor Daniel Lurie said in announcing the results.
A change in how the count was done
The city conducted its count on the morning of Thursday, January 29, 2026. SFist reported that the method changed from 2024: canvassers went out in the early morning instead of late at night, and outreach workers and trained volunteers asked people about their housing status rather than relying only on what they could see. Advocates cited by the outlet said that means the two counts are not a like-for-like comparison, though city officials said they hoped the new approach would make this count more accurate than earlier ones.
San Mateo County's veteran figures are still pending
San Mateo County held its 2026 One Day Homeless Count overnight into the early morning of Thursday, January 29, 2026. Its executive summary counted 2,240 people experiencing homelessness: 1,095 in shelter, up 110, and 1,145 unsheltered, a number the county describes as "essentially unchanged." The county also reports that 1,772 people moved into permanent housing between its 2024 and 2026 counts.
The summary does not break out veterans, and the county says its full report will be available in fall 2026. For context, CBS News Bay Area reported in February 2025 that veterans made up 12% of people experiencing homelessness in the county but only 6% of its adults. The figure appeared in coverage of the groundbreaking for Oak Gardens, a 62-unit community on the Menlo Park VA campus with 55 units set aside for veteran households experiencing homelessness.
Outreach and funding
In 2025, the San Francisco VA Health Care System ran a three-day "Homeless Surge" with partners including the nonprofit Swords to Plowshares. Outreach teams visited encampments to enroll veterans on the spot, while the VA's downtown clinic confirmed their service and discharge status. Swords reported that "16 veterans accepted housing options," with five moving into transitional housing and 11 receiving HUD-VASH vouchers.
Swords to Plowshares also held its first Veterans Connect resource fair in July 2025. The group says the one-day event brought together more than 30 providers and served more than 150 veterans, with visits to a VA mobile medical unit, dental screenings and legal help on site. "We aim to create a Bay Area where no veteran is left behind," Tramecia Garner, the organization's executive director, said in its recap.
VA's fiscal year 2027 homelessness grant lists, published in September 2026, include Swords to Plowshares and The Salvation Army in San Francisco among the organizations receiving awards.
Where veterans can get help
VA's National Call Center for Homeless Veterans can be reached at 877-424-3838. The Veterans Crisis Line is available by dialing 988 and then pressing 1, or by texting 838255.
In San Francisco, the VA's downtown clinic at the Community Resource and Referral Center, 401 3rd Street, offers primary care, social work and mental health services, among others. In San Mateo County, the San Bruno VA Clinic at 1001 Sneath Lane, Suite 300, offers primary care, social work and outpatient mental health care.
Read the city's preliminary results
From Saved by the Saddle
Heroes and Horses, Saved by the Saddle's free program for veterans, meets as Coffee and Horsemanship on the second and fourth Mondays of every month, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, on the ground at Ocean View Stables in Daly City. Veterans of any branch, era or length of service are welcome, Guard and Reserve included, and no horse experience is needed.
Sources: San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, "2026 Point-in-Time Count: Preliminary Results"; San Francisco Mayor's Office, "Mayor Lurie Announces San Francisco Has Reached Lowest Level of Unsheltered Homelessness in 15 Years" (Tuesday, May 12, 2026); SF.gov, San Francisco Point-in-Time Count page; SF.gov, "2024 San Francisco Point-in-Time Count Report" (Tuesday, August 13, 2024); SFist, "New San Francisco Homeless Census Shows Slight Drop, but Methodology Also Changed" (Tuesday, May 12, 2026); County of San Mateo Human Services Agency, "2026 One Day Homeless Count" (updated Tuesday, June 2, 2026); County of San Mateo Human Services Agency, 2026 One Day Homeless Count executive summary; CBS News Bay Area and Bay City News, report on the Oak Gardens groundbreaking (Thursday, February 27, 2025); Swords to Plowshares, "Surging Into Community" (August 2025); Swords to Plowshares, "Veterans Connect Recap" (July 2025); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, "FY 2027 Grant Awards"; San Francisco VA Health Care System, release on suicide prevention grants (Tuesday, September 29, 2026); San Francisco VA Health Care System, "San Francisco VA Clinic"; San Francisco VA Health Care System, "San Bruno VA Clinic"