Rising costs and too few affordable housing options are driving more people to seek assistance to avoid becoming homeless in the San Antonio area, a new report on homelessness says.
And there’s more demand for help than what’s available.
The number of people reaching out for assistance — either through nonprofits or the city of San Antonio’s hotline — rose by more than 4% from 13,153 to 13,740 from 2022 through 2025.
Close to Home produced the annual “State of Homelessness” report and released it to nonprofit leaders Wednesday. The agency coordinates dozens of local nonprofit organizations and government agencies in their response to homelessness.
Despite the growing need, the number of local emergency shelter beds dropped almost 10% over the last four years, from 2,315 beds in 2022 to 2,085 now.
And housing costs are outpacing incomes.
But there are some bright spots. The amount of time people are homeless in the area has decreased, and fewer people are returning to homelessness after landing stable housing, Close to Home president and CEO Katie Wilson said.
“Homelessness is solvable,” Wilson said. “If we can prevent more people from entering homelessness, respond effectively when a housing crisis occurs and help people access and remain in permanent housing, we can reduce homelessness in a meaningful and sustainable way.”
The annual report usually focuses on the the annual point-in-time count — a one-night event each January in which volunteers survey people living on the streets and in shelters across Bexar County.
But since volunteers could only interview people in shelters, not outdoors, because of a winter storm that swept through the area in late January, this year’s total is partial.
The report primarily looks at broader data and trends from 2022 through 2025 from previous point-in-time counts and more data points tracked year-round.
This year, volunteers counted 2,523 people living in shelters, though 413 of those people were in temporary shelters set up to protect people from the winter weather.
The number of people living in homeless shelters — aside from the temporary ones — dropped from 2,489 people to 2,110 people between 2025 and 2026.
The report found that nearly one in five homeless people in the 2026 count — or 501 people — were children.
Volunteers also learned that domestic violence continues to fuel housing instability and homelessness. The number of people who reported being victims of domestic violence increased from 290 in 2022 to 329 in 2026 — a 13.4% increase.