Number of Homeless Persons
• Families (parents & children)
• Children only
• Women & children
• Homeless singles
• Homeless youth
(runaways & homeless)
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1989 Estimates:
5,500
1,500
1,000
4,000
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1991 Estimates:
8,665 between 5/89 and 2/90
4,292 (1,399 families)
2,741
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- Much of the homeless population is never counted, due in part to the Bay Area’s
mild climate, the "doubling up" with friends or family, and the transiency of
this population. Poverty is not the only cause of homelessness; events such as injury,
theft, layoffs, divorce or health problems can also lead to homelessness. (1990 San Mateo
Needs Assessment Report)
- Of all the factors contributing to the rise of homelessness, the severe shortage of
housing for people with low incomes is one of the most fundamental. Increases in home
rental and ownership costs, declining federal subsidy of low-income housing, and loss of
affordable housing units to redevelopment continue to impact numbers of poor people, both
in the Bay Area and nationwide. Not only do we not have enough existing affordable housing
today, we are not creating enough for the future. (SF Foundation Homelessness Initiative.
A Homebase Report, 1992)
- Of the total 639,036 persons for whom poverty status was determined in San Mateo, 40,405
or 6.3% were living below the poverty level.
- In San Mateo, 22% of homeless people are working. (Homebase, Spring 1989)
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