Three-year analysis shows permanent housing exits up, returns to homelessness down, but average time homeless remains a challenge
SAN DIEGO (July 8, 2026)——The Regional Task Force on Homelessness (RTFH) has released its 2025 Homelessness Crisis Response System Data and Performance Report, highlighting encouraging progress across San Diego’s homeless response system while underscoring the continued need to reduce the length of time people experience homelessness. The report examines three years of regional data (FY2023–FY2025) and measures system performance across housing outcomes, service utilization, housing stability, and first-time homelessness.
Key findings include:
● Permanent housing exits increased from 23% to 29% across all households.
● Veteran housing exits improved from 30% to 42%.
● Street Outreach success more than doubled, increasing from 24% to 53%.
● Returns to homelessness declined, with two-year returns falling from 25% to 21% and six-month returns dropping from 11% to 9%.
● First-time homelessness decreased across most populations served by the system.
Ongoing Challenges
While the report highlights measurable progress, it also identifies an ongoing challenge: people are spending longer periods experiencing homelessness before obtaining housing. The average length of homelessness increased from 185 days to 193 days, with seniors averaging 234 days, the longest of any group measured.
The report also shows that the homeless response system continues to serve a large number of San Diegans, with households served increasing from 35,945 to 38,189 over the three-year period. RTFH notes that continued progress will depend on sustained federal, state, and local investments in housing and supportive services.
You can download the report here.
