Johnny Burke, executive director of the Yuba-Sutter Homeless Consortium, presents the 2025 Point-in-Time Count findings during the State of Homelessness Summit on Nov. 7 at Boyd’s Hall in Yuba City. Photo courtesy of the Yuba Sutter Homeless Consortium


YUBA CITY, CA (MPG) - November is Homelessness Awareness Month and, after being recognized with an official proclamation from Sutter County on Nov. 4, the Yuba-Sutter Homeless Consortium held its annual State of Homelessness Summit on Friday, Nov. 7, at Boyd’s Hall in Yuba City.

This year, the room carried something rarely heard in local homelessness discussions: cautious optimism.

Consortium Executive Director Johnny Burke announced that the region’s 2025 Point-in-Time Count — a HUD-mandated census of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals — reflected a 14 percent decrease in homelessness compared to 2023. The drop includes an estimated 20% reduction in Yuba County and a 6% decrease in Sutter County, based on the self-reported survey conducted Jan. 26.

“We haven’t had a drop in years — it’s just gone up and up — and this is the first time we’ve had a drop,” Burke said.

Burke was careful to note that not all of the decrease reflects a true reduction. Extremely cold temperatures on the night of the count may have driven some typically unsheltered individuals to stay with friends or family, and local agencies reported higher incarceration levels at the time of the tally — factors that can make the unhoused population temporarily harder to locate.

“Those two things probably accounted for maybe an eight percent change, I think,” Burke said. “I really think the rest of the change is a variety of things, one of them being prevention. We have seen a reduction over the last year of people that are new to homelessness, and that means we’re using our prevention funds well and keeping people in housing when we can.”

Burke also credited expanded medical and CalAIM-aligned supports, as well as employment-focused programs like One Stop that help stabilize people long-term.

Another influence, Burke said, may be Proposition 36, the statewide initiative passed in November 2024 that increases penalties and creates treatment-mandated felony paths for certain theft and drug crimes — a measure he said, in local practice, has served as both carrot and stick for some unhoused individuals.

“People aren’t getting tagged for just being homeless — they’re being tagged for doing other crimes that are affecting other people,” Burke said. “For a long time in our state there was a lot more carrot than stick, if you will, and a lot of people weren’t really interested in the carrot. They didn’t really feel like they had a reason to change. And now some people are sort of being pushed along a bit more.”

From left, Jason Roper, Michelle Downing and Erich Runge take part in a panel discussion on the intersection of domestic violence and homelessness during Friday’s State of Homelessness Summit. Domestic violence was identified in the 2025 Point-in-Time Count as a leading cause of homelessness in the region. Photo courtesy of the Yuba Sutter Homeless Consortium

He personally noted that he had witnessed a reduction in substance abuse among some of the unhoused population and a renewed motivation among some individuals to reconnect with family or programs.

The 2025 PIT report shows a total of 830 HUD-defined homeless individuals across the two counties — 393 in Sutter and 437 in Yuba.

While overall numbers decreased, some demographic shifts stood out. African American homelessness increased proportionally, while Asian and East Indian/Punjabi homelessness remained nearly nonexistent, something Burke said reflects strong extended-family support systems.

This year’s PIT survey added a new question: Where did individuals first become homeless, and where do they consider home? The addition was meant to answer a long-standing debate between cities and counties over jurisdiction and responsibility.

“There used to be this discussion all the time between the counties and the cities as to ‘whose issue is it,’” Burke said. “So we thought, ‘Let’s ask and find out where people became homeless and where they consider home.’”

The results surprised the consortium. While most respondents reported becoming homeless in Yuba City (193 people) or Marysville (121 people), a significantly higher-than-usual number — over 200 people combined across both counties — reported they became homeless in another county. Another 174 respondents declined to answer.

“What I thought was interesting this year was that around 25 percent of the people said they became homeless somewhere else,” Burke said. “Month over month, we usually have 15 percent or less of the people becoming homeless for the first time from out of the area. I’m hoping to look into this a little bit more.”

Despite the variables that influenced this year’s numbers, Burke emphasized that the local reduction still reflects meaningful progress — particularly in preventing new homelessness and strengthening support systems that keep people housed. The consortium will continue refining its data collection and expanding its outreach, Burke said, but for the first time in several years, the region has measurable evidence that community efforts may be beginning to turn the curve.