Monterey County homeless numbers on the rise despite statewide numbers declining

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) --While California's homeless population numbers have improved, Monterey County is seeing its population increase.

Despite a downward trend statewide, Monterey is still facing a homeless crisis. The County of Monterey’s homeless population is at 19 percent.

2,436 now facing homelessness compared to 2,047 people in 2022.

Of those, only 23 percent are sheltered while the remaining 77 percent remain unsheltered.

The numbers come from the coalition on homeless services providers and applied survey research.

"There is an increase, especially since like October, we've seen an increase in the feeding side as well as folks just trying to get off the street," Victory Mission executive director Frank Green III. "And even if you go outside three, four months ago, it didn't look like it looks today.”

Frank Green III is the executive director of Victory Mission, a men’s emergency overnight shelter.

The report on the county's homeless population suggests 23 percent of people homeless now are experiencing it for the first time. 34 percent are between the ages of 25 to 39.

Victory Mission wants to break the stigma associated with homelessness to help get people off the streets.

“It's not just folks that have substance abuse or drug or alcohol abuse, but these are people that just have had problems in life, right as a man, one paycheck away from being homeless," Green said.

Green hopes that more connections and relationships can be built with the city to help decrease the amount of people living in their cars or on the streets.

“I'm really huge on relationships. I can sit here and speak all day, tell a person what we do, what we need, and to you come and actually see what we do and see what the needs are," Green said.

On another positive note, there was a slight decrease in homeless veterans going from 154 veterans in 2022 to 146 in 2024.