Housing

Homelessness & Housing Insecurity

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Over 70% of the County’s Homeless Population is Living Unsheltered

Rising rent or mortgage costs, foreclosure, loss of a job, or simply not having enough money to afford the high upfront costs of renting or buying are challenges that can force many households into living conditions they would not choose otherwise.  Living doubled- or tripled-up due to economic constraints can place stress on personal relationships, housing stock, public services, and infrastructure.  When shared housing is not an option, the result can be homelessness.  This indicator measures housing security in San Bernardino County by tracking the demand for rental assistance and public housing, the number of public school students who are homeless or have insecure housing arrangements, and the point-in-time homeless count.

TREND

Homeless Students

Approximately 1 in 16 school-age students have insecure housing. In the 2021/22 school year, 24,388 San Bernardino County K-12 students were identified as homeless or lacking secure housing, representing 6.2% of total enrollment.[1] This constitutes a decline of 36% since the 10-year high of 38,082 homeless students in 2015/16. Among homeless and housing insecure students, 89.5% are living doubled- or tripled-up in a home due to economic hardship, 5.5% live in motels, 3.0% live in shelters, and 2.0% live unsheltered in cars, parks, or campgrounds.

NUMBER OF HOUSING INSECURE CHILDREN CONTINUES TO DECLINE
Number of San Bernardino County Students Identified as Homeless or Housing Insecure by Primary Nighttime Residence, 2012/13-2021/22

Sources: California Department of Education, according to information provided by school districts on their Local Education Agency Reporting Form Title 1, Part A and Homeless Education Consolidated Application (2009/10-2015/16); San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (2016/17-2021/22)

Rental Assistance

Due to high demand and low supply of units, many residents seeking rental assistance from the Housing Authority of San Bernardino County will wait many years before the opportunity arises. In 2022, 10,462 households were housed through a rental assistance voucher program or by leasing a public housing unit.  Meanwhile, there were 88,359 household applicants waiting for rental assistance in 2022.  Between 2021 and 2022, there was a 5.5% increase in the number of households assisted and an increase of 8.9% in the number of households on waiting lists.[2]  This increase is partially due to the tenant-based voucher wait list was open for 24 days in 2022, which added approximately 26,000 applications to a wait list that is only open periodically.

OVER 88,000 APPLICANTS ON WAITING LISTS FOR HOUSING ASSISTANCE
Number of Housing Vouchers and Number of Applicants on Waiting List for Various Housing Assistance in San Bernardino County, 2020-2022

Sources: Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino, 2020, 2021, and 2022 Annual Reports. Households served includes those served through rental assistance voucher programs or public housing units. Data does not include counts from the Needles Housing Authority, and, as a result, should not be compared to prior years.

Point-in-Time Homeless Count

The 2022 point-in-time homeless count revealed that 3,333 people were homeless in San Bernardino County, an increase of 6.7% compared to the 3,125 homeless counted in 2020. [3] No homeless count was conducted in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 71.7% of people experiencing homelessness that were counted in 2022 were unsheltered. The remainder (28.3%) were sheltered in some type of housing for the homeless.

NUMBER OF HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS INCREASED BY 7% SINCE 2020
Number of Individuals Who Are Homeless by Sheltered and Unsheltered Status in San Bernardino County, 2018-2022

Source: San Bernardino County Homeless County and Subpopulation Survey Final Report 2020 and 2022; *Data not available for 2021 due to pandemic-related impacts.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY’S UNSHELTERED HOMELESS POPULATION
213
Seniors 62+
44%
Chronically Homeless
79%
Male
33%
Substance Abuse and/or Mental Health Disorder

Source: 2022 San Bernardino County Homeless County and Subpopulation Survey Final Report

Point-In-Time Homeless Count:

The San Bernardino County Homeless Count and Subpopulation Survey is an annual census of the number of people experiencing homelessness in a 24-hour period typically during the last 10 days of January. In 2022, for pandemic-related reasons, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) permitted local Continuums of Care (COCs) – regional planning bodies that coordinate housing, services, and funding for people experiencing homelessness – to conduct the homeless count during the last 10 days of February. As such, the San Bernardino City and County CoC conducted the homeless count on February 24, 2022.[1]

RACE/ETHNICITY DETAIL

Point-in-Time Homeless Count Most unsheltered individuals (64.3%) identified their ethnicity as Non-Latino, while 35.7% identified as Latino. The majority of individuals (61.1%) identified their race as White. Approximately 18.3%  identified their race as Black and 15.5% as an “Other” racial category.[4]

MOST USHELTERED INDIVIDUALS IDENTIFIED AS WHITE

Percent of Unsheltered Individuals in San Bernardino by Race and Ethnicity, 2022

Note: Race data and ethnicity data were reported separately by the data source.

Source: 2022 San Bernardino County Homeless County and Subpopulation Survey Final Report

[1] The federal law that governs the identification of homeless and housing insecure school-age students (McKinney-Vento) includes those who are living unsheltered as well as those housed in shelters, motels or hotels, or living doubled- or tripled-up due to economic hardship. Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding.

[2] Voucher program units are privately owned, with rent subsidies paid directly to owners by the Housing Authority. Public housing units are owned and managed by the Housing Authority. Both vouchers and public housing unit subsidies are funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

[3] The point-in-time estimates of homelessness are based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definition of homelessness, which only counts individuals living in homeless shelters or living unsheltered in a place not intended for human habitation.

[4] Race data and ethnicity data were reported separately by the data source.

1The federal law that governs the identification of homeless and housing insecure school-age students (McKinney-Vento) includes those who are living unsheltered as well as those housed in shelters, motels or hotels, or living doubled- or tripled-up due to economic hardship. Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding. 2Rental assistance in the form of Housing Choice Vouchers, or a similar program, enables recipients to seek housing in the private market from landlords who will accept the vouchers. The voucher subsidizes the recipient’s rent. Rental assistance may also take the form of Section 8 project-based vouchers which provide vouchers for recipients to use in properties awarded a project-based voucher contract with the housing authority or public housing authority units that have been converted through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. Households may apply for any of these options and be on multiple waitlists. A total of 82,813 applications for tenant based, RAD, and non RAD voucher-based assistance were on the waitlist as of September 30, 2020. 3This number includes 9,477 individuals with a leased-up voucher through the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino as of September 30, 2020, and 19 households with a leased-up voucher through Needles Housing Authority as of December 31, 2020. 4Public housing can take the form of apartment complexes or houses that are owned by a Public Housing Authority and rented at an affordable rate to income-eligible recipients. Most public housing units in San Bernardino County have been converted to project-based voucher assistance through the HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. 5The point-in-time estimates of homelessness are based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definition of homelessness, which only counts individuals living in homeless shelters or living unsheltered in a place not intended for human habitation. 6Race data and ethnicity data were reported separately by the data source.