FRESNO, Calif. \u2014 After investing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into homelessness programs and services, Fresno leaders say they’re finally getting a more accurate understanding of who is living on the streets and whether those efforts are making a difference.<\/p>\n
City and county officials gathered at Fresno City Hall Tuesday to discuss the latest Point-in-Time (PIT) Count for Fresno and Madera counties, highlighting not only updated homelessness numbers but also changes in how data is collected and analyzed.<\/p>\n
Officials said the goal is no longer simply counting people experiencing homelessness but understanding the circumstances that led them there and identifying what services are most effective in helping them secure housing and support.<\/p>\n
The information is expected to serve as an important tool as city and county leaders prepare next year’s budget. <\/p>\n
The 2025 Point-in-Time Count recorded 4,905 sheltered and unsheltered individuals across Fresno and Madera counties, a 9.2% increase from the 4,493 people counted in 2023.<\/p>\n
Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez acknowledged the challenges involved in accurately measuring homelessness.<\/p>\n
“It is virtually impossible to count every single folk that are homeless here in our community, but we do the best that we can,” Chavez said.<\/p>\n
To improve accuracy, Fresno has expanded its approach. <\/p>\n
“Our outreach workers go out every quarter, and they have been doing over the last couple of years an informal count, to look at what numbers are truly out there,” said Mayor Jerry Dyer. “That is to interview people and try to get them services. But if they don’t, to at least find out their stories, to have an accurate accounting of who’s truly, truly unhoused.”<\/p>\n
According to Dyer, the results of the 2025 PIT Count closely align with what outreach workers have been observing on Fresno streets, giving officials greater confidence in the data.<\/p>\n
During the news conference, FOX26 asked city leaders how they determine whether homelessness services are working.<\/p>\n
Dyer said the city tracks how many people accept services each month, including housing placements and shelter utilization.<\/p>\n
“I can tell you how many people accept services every month. I can tell you how many people are accepting housing,” Dyer said. “Just because they accept services doesn’t mean they’re going into a shelter bed.”<\/p>\n
He added that approximately 250 people per month utilize shelter beds. <\/p>\n
“I can’t think of a time when we had a day where we said, ‘Well, sorry, we don’t have a shelter bed,'” Dyer said. “Because we always have people exiting the shelters.”<\/p>\n
Despite available services, Dyer said one of the biggest barriers remains helping individuals with severe mental illness who may be unable or unwilling to seek treatment on their own.<\/p>\n
The mayor pointed to conservatorship laws as a critical component of addressing chronic homelessness among those with serious mental health conditions.<\/p>\n
“I will say that the governor attempted to create a system very similar to that through CARE Court,” Dyer said. “Unfortunately, as it made its way through the process, it got watered down.”<\/p>\n
Dyer argued that while CARE Court allows judges to mandate certain treatment plans, it does not provide the same authority as traditional conservatorships to place individuals into treatment facilities when necessary.<\/p>\n
“So that’s what we need, and we need more mental health beds, both outpatient and inpatient beds,” he said.<\/p>\n
Officials say the revised counting methods will continue to be evaluated during the next Point-in-Time Count in 2027.<\/p>\n
While leaders believe the new approach provides a more accurate snapshot of homelessness in the region, they acknowledge one significant limitation. The data takes a long time to come in, meaning it cannot fully capture changing conditions in real time.<\/p>\n
Still, city officials say the improved data will help guide future investments and policy decisions as Fresno continues working to address homelessness across the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. \u2014 After investing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into homelessness programs and services, Fresno leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-354119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}