MENDOCINO CO., 11/13/25 — The number of homeless people in Mendocino County decreased this year compared to last year, but the number of people considered chronically homeless increased sharply, according to a report recently released from the county’s annual point-in-time homelessness count.
The point-in-time count is a survey of the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless people on one night in January, typically the coldest time of the year. The count is conducted by the Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care and is a requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to receive federal funding for homeless services.
According to the survey, the total number of unsheltered people counted on Jan. 29 was 440. That is a decline from last year, when the survey reported 552 unsheltered people.
On the other hand, the number of chronically homeless people, those who have been homeless for a long period of time and have a health condition that does not allow them to live independently, totaled 267 this year. During last year’s homelessness count, the number of chronically homeless people was much lower at 154.
The report states that ongoing health conditions are often what causes homelessness and keeps people on the streets.
“The poor health of many who experience homelessness is both a cause and consequence of their lack of housing. Mental, behavioral and physical health issues are well documented in our survey,” the report states.
The 2025 point-in-time count, including specific data by demographics, can be viewed at https://mendocinococ.org/pit-counts.
California spent twenty four billion dollars on homelessness programs in five years, yet the problem did not shrink in any meaningful way. The number of chronically homeless people actually rose. The math exposes why. The state has about one hundred eighty thousand homeless residents. That spending equals roughly one hundred thirty three thousand dollars per person. The money never reached the people who needed shelter. It moved upward into agencies, contractors, consultants, NPOs, and political allies who absorbed the funding through layers of overhead. The structure benefits the institutions built around the crisis rather than the individuals trapped inside it.
This is the same pattern as every centrally managed system. Money extracted from the public never flows downward with precision. It circulates through a network of partners that convert a social problem into a recurring source of revenue. Homelessness is not treated as something to resolve. It is treated as something to manage for profit. The incentives reward continuation, not solutions. That is why billions vanish while tents remain on sidewalks and the chronically homeless population climbs.
Scale the numbers outward. The United States has about six hundred fifty thousand homeless people nationwide. Twenty four billion dollars divided across that total equals about thirty six thousand dollars per person. A functional used RV averages fifteen to twenty thousand dollars. Even at the high end, California’s spending alone could have purchased an RV for every homeless person in the entire country with money left over for maintenance and support. The fact that this did not happen tells you everything about where the money actually went.
This is not a lack of resources. It is a model built on distribution through political channels instead of direct support. Funds are routed into cronies and nonprofit networks that use homelessness as justification for continuous funding. The language of compassion covers an industry that depends on the problem remaining unsolved. If homelessness ended tomorrow, these organizations would lose their contracts, their budgets, and their influence. The system is designed to sustain itself, not the people outside it.
California’s own audit confirms the outcome. They spent enough to end the crisis several times over, yet outcomes were not tracked, accountability was absent, and funds were consumed by administrative layers. The reality is clear. The money they spent could have solved the issue permanently if given directly to the people suffering from it instead of the institutions profiting from it.
Yet, people here (ADAMANTLY) keep voting for this kind of leadership… wake up people!
If ya don’t like homelessness. Buy me a house and say: you NEVER have to pay rent and you NEVER have to leave nor will you EVER be kicked out.
I’ll invite you to my college graduation, move out of your place so you can do that for someone else.
We aren’t bad, gross, dirty, drug addled people, some become that way because of how we are treated, and the stigma never leaves.
Scouts Honor
If Ya Don’t Believe Me Just Watch
Amen I agree with that they are using the homeless prevention program is a cover-up to keep coming in bringing money in their own pockets not helping the people they’re saying they’re there to help I agree
You had me until the last sentence. I am of the view that direct payments to the chronically homeless will be spent on alcohol and drugs not any kind of meaningful solution. However I would be interested in a study to see what happens if you tried to implement direct payments.
Unfortunately I cannot comment on the Facebook thread until tomorrow, so in the meantime, here is my response to William McNamara.
I responded directly to your statement about permanent institutionalization. If you have changed your position since then, that is on you, not due to lack of understanding on my part!
Luckily no reading comprehension issues here. I understood what you wrote! I just do not agree with the conclusions you jumped to.
Early support can help families, but it does not turn a no fault neurological brain illness into something preventable. That part of your argument isn’t accurate. What I said is that prevention does not replace intervention, treatment, or long term care, and that is why people end up on the streets.
Real care means crisis intervention, consistent treatment, step by step support, housing, and follow through after stabilization.
Treating people as if they are irreversibly damaged and should be contained long term is not a solution. It is cruel, and it ignores the systemic failures that lead to this situation in the first place.
mm💕
Anyone remember defund the police?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/07/covid-relief-funds-california-cities-police
As a country our leaders (big and small) were preparing a bloated police state to keep common Americans in line (all in the name of COVID relief). Police unions still control large if not majority shares in how cities and counties spend their budgets regardless of crimes levels. For Ukiah, look no further than the huge settlement payouts for police misconduct. Take a look at transparent CA to see what your local law enforcement earns annually. More Homeless feeds the narrative for more police presence. Now we have the felon/pedo back in the WH sending federalized proud boys agents to our cities while our local bloated police forces sit back watching them violate our bill of rights on a daily basis. The Americans that do have jobs and homes are next in line when the tariffs start forcing their employers to lay them off too. The homeless were / are the canary in the mines for what’s to come to common American people. The corruption in leadership is the complicity (or laziness) towards imprisoning common Americans merely for not having a place to live or to voice opposition to the current order. Major Media networks (Fox, CNN, etc) trying to make political protests and criminality into the same thing. Years of unchecked major media mergers have half the country brainwashed or encouraging their worst bias opinion about our common American neighbors by repeating misguided, deceitful images/messages and talking points all while creating a national level of Stockholm syndrome especially in less educated areas of the country. The slow, yet increasing, speed we walk into fascism was clear as day just a few short years ago. Confederate flags, proud boys, and human filth filled the floors of Congress at our nations capital during what would have been a peaceful routine changing of the presidential powers. Complicit out of touch leaders pretending to do a job they were /are clearly unqualified to do but were selected by our highest paid bidders and brokered to the common people via the duopoly party. The weakness in our leaders translates flawlessly to the real pain Americans feel, like diabetes necrotizing flesh on a body. The homeless are a parameter of where the rest of us will end up if we as a nation don’t turn this proverbial ship around.
Ask Roberto Garcia of Janna ave. He knows why.
All day long. Criminalizing struggle is disgusting. Enabling dysfuntion without accountability for results is tragic. You can put all the lipstick on a pig you want. Addiction is not a homless problem. The challenge sits with thinking band aids and temporary solutions change lifelong issues. As the chasm gets wider more will be on the have not side. Consumerisum and value of material goods over ones soul is the blight of us all. Teslas could be pretty nice to live in. No one should feel safe.
Cherry exactly. And in my opinion, the money needs to go to schools and passion programs to keep the next generation from repeating the cycle.
Okay and then God made a person like me that says speak the truth and let it be heard so Ashley Hathaway, Megan Van Sant, and Heather Criss Heather and Megan are both from social services actually we Hathaway is from the non-profit organization RCHDC. WELL NUMBER ONE REASON THESE PEOPLE THAT ARE GIVING THESE COUNTS ARE ACTUALLY COMPLETELY AND FULLY AWARE OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE GOING BACK TO THE STREETS AS THEY ARE PUTTING PEOPLE THERE THEY GET THEM HOUSED AND THEY LITERALLY HARASS THEM OUT THEY THREATEN THEM WITH POLICE AND TRESPASSING CHARGES AND THEN FOR THOSE WHO ARE ON PROBATION IT SCARES THEM BUT FOR ME IT DIDN’T SO I STUCK AROUND I WAS TOLD I DIDN’T HAVE A LEASE SO WHAT I WAS ATTEMPTING TO PAY WASN’T ACTUALLY RENT IT WAS A PROGRAM AGREEMENT THEY CALLED IT AS THEY LITERALLY STRIP ME OF MY RIGHTS AND SAID I HAD NONE SINCE I DIDN’T TAKE THEIR TRESPASSING CHARGES IN THEIR THREATS WITH POLICE IN THEIR 24-HOUR NOTICE TO VACATE SERIOUS WHEN THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT MONTH CAME AROUND THEY REFUSED MY RENT THEN THEY SLOWLY AND INTENTIONALLY HARASS ME WITH REPEATED AND IMPROPERLY POSTED NOTICES as they continued over two and a half months to get me and my two children out of the program that’s made to prevent homelessness that’s supposed to be housing first but these people used within 7 days a violation notice over an emotional support pet then they had an ego issues so they gave me within 9 days of violation and 24-hour notice to vacate within 14 days I was threatened with police and trespassing charges by the beginning of the next month they refused my rent then gave me an incurable violation over an emotional support pet which is illegal and not even something they should have done then they continue to harass me every single day from the 7th of that month all the way to the 11th of that month knowing my therapist would be back in town to cover the other animal in the letter but they continuously harass me instead until they finally two and a half months later after moving in they got me out even though I moved in with the proper documentation to cover me and my children and our emotional support pet they broke the law with not without any regard to human well-being with no care in the world what was going to happen to me in my two children ages 11 and 8 and then as Miss Heather Criss clearly states her opinion and some board meetings how the homeless are a embarrassment as she puts it now that’s the kind of person I think should be in charge of the funds to help people that don’t have much someone that looks down on them and puts themself on a pedestal above them considers them an embarrassment that person’s looking out for our best interest and considers as you know people that need help early whoever put them in charges a joke then when I bring it up to each one of these people individually how many of my children will be homeless considering the fact that they are there to prevent it and I figured maybe they cared but the truth was in the long run all they want is to be in control have egos like children that have to be in control not to mention this wasn’t emotional support pet with a legal documented letter that they should have taken and been enough but no they didn’t want it that way they were determined to get me in my children out and they did illegally and constructively evicting me and there was actually over the period in time that I was there I seen when I was being evicted there was about three other people being evicted at the same time in a building with like 40 something units so that is a quite a bit of people being evicted at the same time which they have to have a maximum of at least 90% filled at a time for them to meet the legal obligations in which they have made contracts and gotten their grants for now let’s go to another level besides the people kissing ass you know of Megan that’s in charge of the whole entire funding of these programs which doesn’t really step in and put her foot down for anything she just agrees with whatever they say and then hides it underneath the f****** paperwork that I’d even hidden that it even happened not to mention they shredded my emotional support pet letter of my child’s wishes destruction of minors medical records which is a federal law they’re breaking there which is federal laws with Federal grant funding that the social services side gave me proof on when they had chosen to shred my daughter’s medical letter from her therapist destruction of miners medical records intentionally with the intent to rob me of the right to have an emotional support pet and at the same time constructively and harassingly improperly posting notices I know there’s many more just like me and these people shouldn’t even be in charge of these programs it’s not that the programs don’t work it’s the people in charge aren’t Fair don’t care and are doing it for the wrong reasons in my view none of those three should be working there at all and they need a deep and thorough investigation into their actions not their words cuz these people don’t have a heart they don’t care and they only want to do what they feel they should be in charge and should be able to do this isn’t about ego ladies this is about caring about people that need a chance to have stability not somebody hating on the sides because of the fact that they are an embarrassment as you put it yeah you’re someone I really want to have looking out for me someone that considers me an embarrassment you are an embarrassment as you claim to be good-hearted helping from the goodness of your soul using mental health as your cover for the people you don’t want to deal with probably see I didn’t fall into that category but I’m pretty sure that there’s many that have that you’ve used it as an excuse and covered it up as you made some f***** up bad choices cruel and mean as you didn’t get your way like a little kid throwing a tantrum but showing you’re the one in authority in the end saying you’re following rules that you’re illegally breaking and making your own you know you ain’t following the rules you’re making them up as you go and then change them as you feel so the real is you shouldn’t be in charge at all your egos too big and ugly and it’s a monster that needs to come out from that closet so the world sees the real you you three are cool bad intentioned ill-willed people that only want well maybe not ill you may not be ill will because you may not be evil but you sure don’t have no heart
Yes, the entire group in collusion. Make $ off of others woes n sorrows. Bring up concerns or needs, share personal input it is made a problem rather than look at new ideas. Clients become distressed. Setting a path to a new life can take years. The manipulation within these agencies add more problems as they “solve”. Many who were quickly forced on to or out of these settings sit silent. When management and higher ups are not connected with true need, real situations, life beyond their perspective, programs fail. Throwing millions away without any outcomes over time. How sustainable is “housing” someone when the situation is way beyond housing. Each person may have far different needs yet all are treated punitively by staff over issues that should not be issues. It is a difficult social issue. Housing is not mearly 4 walls and a roof. What are the #s of those housed say through Live Oak or Ford Street that are still well housed after 3-4 years? Any of that data around?
Simple question…..How many of these one that come for services in Mendocino County are from Mendocino County…… Or are they coming from different counties due to Mendocino offer these kinds of services…. Services should go to residents that are going thru hardship and live in and are from Mendocino County….