An election worker raises a U.S. flag while assisting voters at a polling station in Las Vegas on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.
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Ronda Churchill
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
Tens of millions of voters have had their citizenship status and other information checked using a revamped tool offered by the Trump administration, even as many states — led by both Democrats and Republicans — are refusing or hesitating to use it because of outstanding questions about the system.
More details: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says election officials have used the tool to check the information of more than 33 million voters — a striking portion of the American public, considering little information has been made public about the tool's accuracy or data security.
Questions about the system: The upgrade to the system, known as SAVE, makes the tool far more accessible, since it now aligns with the information most states collect or have access to for most voters. But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses USCIS, has not responded to questions about the system from members of Congress, and numerous election officials NPR spoke with expressed concern about what else the Trump administration could do with the data it acquires from states.
Read on... for SAVE concerns and more on the push for voter data.
Tens of millions of voters have had their citizenship status and other information checked using a revamped tool offered by the Trump administration, even as many states — led by both Democrats and Republicans — are refusing or hesitating to use it because of outstanding questions about the system.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says election officials have used the tool to check the information of more than 33 million voters — a striking portion of the American public, considering little information has been made public about the tool's accuracy or data security.
The latest update to the system, known as SAVE, took effect Aug. 15 and allows election officials to use just the last four digits of voters' Social Security numbers — along with names and dates of birth — to check if the voters are U.S. citizens, or if they have died.
The upgrade makes the tool far more accessible, since it now aligns with the information most states collect or have access to for most voters. But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses USCIS, has not responded to questions about the system from members of Congress, and numerous election officials NPR spoke with expressed concern about what else the Trump administration could do with the data it acquires from states.
"There's still uncertainty about what is happening, what happens to the data that are shared with USCIS," said Charles Stewart, a political science professor who directs the MIT Election Data and Science Lab. "I don't know if this means that the USCIS now has a depository of one-sixth of all [the country's] registered voters."
In recent months, several Republican-led states have brokered new agreements with USCIS to use SAVE, or announced the results of SAVE reviews. Ohio election officials will begin removing from their rolls thousands of inactive voters that SAVE identified as deceased. And Louisiana's secretary of state announced last week that officials identified 79 likely noncitizens who had voted in at least one election since the 1980s, after running nearly all of the state's 2.9 million registered voters through SAVE.
DHS is encouraging officials in other states to upload data to the system — even going so far as to make millions of dollars of grant money contingent on them using it.
But USCIS did not respond to NPR's questions about what happens to the data states upload and who has access to it.
And officials in other GOP-led states have expressed caution about using the system.
Last month, North Carolina's Republican-controlled state election board did not take up an offer by USCIS to participate in a "soft launch" of the upgraded tool. Spokesperson Patrick Gannon told NPR in a statement that state officials are pursuing "agreements to ensure that proper safeguards would be in place to protect and secure the data, if a decision is ultimately made to use the service."
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, told NPR the upgraded SAVE seemed like a "fantastic tool," but he still has questions before he can run his voter list through it to ensure it is authorized under state law.
"Where's that data going? And at the end of the day, is it stored? What are they going to do with it? Who has access? Is it shared?" Watson told NPR last month. "I don't want to do something that I don't necessarily have the ability to do without legislative authority. So we just want to be very clear on that before we move forward."
SAVE concerns are compounded by other Trump moves on elections
Numerous voting officials told NPR they felt the revamped SAVE tool could be useful for confirming citizenship status without encumbering voters, and many Democrats also acknowledged the efforts by Trump's USCIS to work in a bipartisan fashion.
As part of the administration's stated aim to crack down on noncitizen voting, USCIS prioritized updating the data system known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, that state and federal agencies have for decades used to query DHS databases to determine if foreign-born individuals are eligible for various benefits.
The agency, working with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, made SAVE free to states and allowed bulk searches, as opposed to looking up one person at a time — changes that were celebrated by many voting officials.
"It's getting access to data that already exists and just making it so [election officials] can more easily compare things without making it hard for voters," said Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, a Republican who has begun testing out SAVE's upgraded capabilities. "I'm trying to make it easier for voters while also doing these validations."
In May, USCIS linked data from the Social Security Administration, allowing election officials for the first time to check the citizenship of many U.S.-born citizens with the voter's name, date of birth and nine-digit Social Security number. NPR was the first news outlet to report on the change.
The integration with Social Security Administration data also means SAVE can show if someone appears on that agency's Death Master File.
Since most states only collect the last four digits of Social Security numbers from voters, the latest upgrade swung open the door for many more states to use SAVE. USCIS says almost 80% of the 33 million voters validated via SAVE were run through the system since the Aug. 15 change.
An unprecedented push for voter data
In mid-July, California Sen. Alex Padilla and two other Democratic U.S. senators formally requested information on the updated SAVE system from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, including the accuracy rate of the SAVE program, what data USCIS stores and who has access, and whether the agency is following protocols spelled out in federal privacy laws.
The senators asked for answers by July 29 but have not heard back.
"In light of the president's threats to issue unconstitutional executive orders to interfere with state elections, DHS owes Congress and the public some basic transparency about what they are doing with state voter rolls," Padilla told NPR.
A voting booth is seen during a Kentucky primary at a polling place in the city of Simpsonville on May 16, 2023.
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Jon Cherry
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Getty Images
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SAVE pings a number of data sources, as opposed to being a database in and of itself. But under USCIS policy, all queries are saved for 10 years for audit purposes, so if a state runs its whole voter list through the tool, that data will remain with DHS for a decade.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, told NPR that such a system sounded like the beginnings of a national voter registration list that would raise privacy and security concerns.
"They said they're going to keep our data for 10 years," Bellows said. "If [former Attorney General] Merrick Garland were asking for this or President Biden, I have to think that the red states would be calling for their heads."
The agreements that states sign to use SAVE include a clause that grants DHS permission to use information from states "for any purpose permitted by law, including, but not limited to, the prosecution of violations of Federal administrative or criminal law."
At a White House meeting about SAVE in late July, USCIS officials tried to reassure state voting officials about sharing sensitive voter data, according to Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, who attended the meeting.
"They said many times like, 'Look, we know the states are in charge of elections. We don't want your data. We don't want your lists,' " Thomas recalled.
But in recent weeks, the Department of Justice has been making controversial demands to numerous states to turn over such data, including in several instances voter rolls that include personal data like driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
Thomas, a Democrat, said that when a Republican secretary of state pointed out the DOJ's voter data demands to USCIS officials, the officials responded that they worked for a separate agency.
"The worst thing you can get is a false positive"
USCIS hasn't publicized detailed evidence about the accuracy of the tool or shared what testing went into the program before it was released to states, though it asserts SAVE's accuracy has markedly improved with the recent upgrades.
But voting rights groups and some election officials are voicing concerns that eligible voters could face barriers to casting ballots or be improperly removed from the rolls if states over-rely on incomplete information from SAVE.
USCIS acknowledges that certain categories of people who acquired U.S. citizenship, such as some foreign-born children of U.S. citizens, cannot be verified by SAVE.
Furthermore, data matching in elections is notoriously difficult and there are questions about the completeness of the Social Security Administration's citizenship data USCIS is relying on.
Wesley Wilcox, a Republican elections supervisor in Marion County, Fla., signed an agreement this summer giving his county access to SAVE. But he said he plans to double check any data he gets from the system, since he's encountered multiple instances in which SSA data indicated a person was dead when they weren't.
"It's like any new process that you put into effect … we're going to do that legwork," Wilcox said. "I want to be as accurate as humanly possible at all times."
For a portion of foreign-born individuals, SAVE prompts user agencies to submit more information, such as a person's naturalization certificate number or alien registration number, for their case to be manually reviewed. USCIS told NPR that of the 33 million voters submitted to the upgraded SAVE so far, less than 1% have required that manual review. The agency did not respond to NPR's question about the results of the manual review, how many noncitizens on voter rolls have been identified to date or what portion of the results so far were inconclusive.
While USCIS' materials say election officials are not supposed to reject voter registrations or remove voters from the rolls if the SAVE system asks for more voter information, it is not yet clear if there are consequences if states skip those steps.
Last year, thousands of U.S. citizens in states including Alabama, Virginia and Texas were removed from the rolls or deactivated after election officials relied on imperfect data to identify suspected noncitizens.
Conservative election integrity advocates have broadly celebrated SAVE's development, but among some, there is also an acknowledgement that states need to be cautious when removing people from voter rolls.
"I am hopeful that a great deal of care and a great deal of contemplation is going into this process because the worst thing you can get is a false positive," said J. Christian Adams, president of the conservative Public Interest Legal Foundation. "The worst thing you could do, as some states have done in the past, is remove a citizen from the voter rolls as a noncitizen. That should not happen."
In 2019, a court settlement required Adams to apologize to a group of Virginia voters his organization incorrectly claimed were noncitizens.
Louisiana's test case
The most in-depth data about how the updated SAVE is working came last week from Louisiana.
The state's Republican secretary of state, Nancy Landry, told reporters that by using SAVE, her office identified 390 people on the voter rolls who they believe are noncitizens. Seventy-nine of them were found to have voted. Landry said there was a review of each suspected noncitizen and her office worked with the FBI to investigate their citizenship status.
"They have been given notice we have reason to believe they are not a U.S. citizen," Landry said. "They have the opportunity to come in and provide documentation that they are in fact a U.S. citizen."
Anyone who does not respond or provide proof within 21 days is removed from the rolls, Landry said, and noncitizens who registered to vote — regardless of whether they were among the 79 who voted in recent decades — will be referred for criminal prosecution.
The number of suspected noncitizens Louisiana found to have voted amounts to less than 0.003% of the state's registered voters, a percentage that aligns with what many other reviews on the issue have found.
"The very small numbers suggest that the results are what we expected, and that they are not alarming," said Stewart of MIT.
He added that number might shrink further as some people may prove to be citizens.
Yet even as there are signs the SAVE program is generating helpful data, Stewart said it is troubling that USCIS is withholding answers to key questions, like what happens to the data that is uploaded or detailed breakdowns on SAVE results so far.
In Minnesota, state voting officials would need a change to state law to use SAVE for elections. But Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, said he won't push for such a change until he has more clarity on how it works.
"Certainly it's impressive what they've done in a short period of time," Simon said. "[But] I'd want to see a lot more by way of testing and assurances about the accuracy before we would be a willing and enthusiastic participant."
Copyright 2025 NPR
Yama Sushi Marketplace locations will host a rotating lineup of Asian-owned brands through the end of the month.
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Gab Chabrán
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LAist
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In this edition:
Stroll the Balboa Island Art Walk, play Ryan Adams’ pinball machines, read kids' books to trees and more of the best things to do this weekend.
Highlights:
Is there a more idyllic corner of SoCal than Balboa Island? Stroll the promenade and enjoy the art and the views at the 31st annual Balboa Island Art Walk. There’s live music and more than 90 artists showing their work with an ocean backdrop.
Head down to Anaheim to check out (and maybe bid on) your next game room addition. Ryan Adams — yep, that’s the one, former Mr. Mandy Moore and indie rocker royalty of the early 2000s — is apparently a big arcade collector, and he’s auctioning off much of his collection. There’s a wide range of arcade games and pinball machines on view to the public, plus opportunities to play, meet collectors and see the warehouse.
The John Rowland Mansion is the oldest extant brick building in Southern California, and has a unique history that the House Museum has recently been instrumental in preserving. Spend some time at the Greek revival building with the whole family for The Giving Trees, a reading of children’s books to trees (with gratitude to Shel Silverstein!) in the garden at the permanent installation Let’s Make a Garden From Old Wounds.
So many of us have stories about secret shows, celeb sightings and special guests showing up at the intimate Hotel Cafe over the past 26 years. The venue’s Instagram has a bevy of famous well-wishers popping into the chat. So it’s truly the end of an era as the iconic night spot hosts its final shows at the Cahuenga location, wrapping things up with a party called Last Dance at the Hotel Cafe featuring Sara Bareilles and many more on Friday.
But if you can’t score a ticket, fear not, because there’s plenty more music on the agenda for this weekend. Licorice Pizza’s Lyndsey Parker recommends Friday shows St. Lucia at the Fonda; Santigold at the Bellwether; Alejandro Sanz at the Greek; and Desert Daze’s Microdazing at the Bellwether, featuring various DJs, including KCRW’s Travis Holcombe and Beastie Boys producer Mario C. Saturday, Demi Lovato is at the Forum, friend-of-LAist Flea plays the Fonda and the big Japanese music festival Zipangu is at Brookside at the Rose Bowl, featuring Atarashii Gakko!, Ado and many more. And on Sunday, Echo & the Bunnymen are at the Greek, and Father John Misty plays the Fox Theater in Pomona.
Elsewhere on LAist, you can get a behind-the-scenes look at historic Santa Monica music store and venue McCabe’s Guitar Shop, find out what gets left behind at Metro’s Lost & Found and get tickets for next week’s LAist x Moth StorySlam at Los Globos.
Events
Los Angeles Old Time Social
Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16 Velaslavasay Panorama 1122 W. 24th Street, University Park COST: SUGGESTED $20; MORE INFO
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Corey Burns
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Los Angeles Old Time Social
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The 16th annual Los Angeles Old Time Social celebrates the vibrant old-time music scene in Southern California. A kickoff concert on Friday is followed by a full day of activities on Saturday, May 16 at The Velaslavasay Panorama in West Adams. Attend workshops and jams for banjo, fiddle, guitar, singing and dancing. The event is capped off on Saturday night with a big square dance and musical cakes from 7:30 to 10 p.m. No experience or partner is needed. The square dance caller walks everyone through the moves before every song, so it’s easy to follow along in a fun and no-pressure environment.
Chocoholics and ice cream fiends will know pastry chef David Lebovitz’s work well. The Paris-based dessert king is in town promoting his cookbooks, The Great Book of Chocolate and Ready for Dessert with a special event at Friends & Family. His ice cream book is the bible for anyone who's tried their hand at making ice cream at home, and his other desserts also stand up to the test. Yum.
The Giving Trees
Saturday, May 16, 3:30 p.m. John Rowland Mansion 15959 E. Gale Ave., City of Industry COST: FREE; MORE INFO
The John Rowland Mansion is the oldest extant brick building in Southern California, and has a unique history that the House Museum has recently been instrumental in preserving. Spend some time at the Greek revival building with the whole family for The Giving Trees, a reading of children’s books to trees (with gratitude to Shel Silverstein!) in the garden at the permanent installation Let’s Make a Garden From Old Wounds.
Celebrity-Owned Private Collection Arcade and Pinball Auction
Sunday, May 17, 9 a.m. preview Captain’s Auction Warehouse 4421 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim COST: FREE TO PERUSE; MORE INFO
File this one under weird and wonderful. Head down to Anaheim to check out (and maybe bid on) your next game room addition. Ryan Adams — yep, that’s the one, former Mr. Mandy Moore and indie rocker royalty of the early 2000s — is apparently a big arcade collector, and he’s auctioning off much of his collection. There’s a wide range of arcade games and pinball machines on view to the public, plus opportunities to play, meet collectors and see the warehouse.
Red Bull Soapbox Race
Saturday, May 16, 11 a.m. Gloria Molina Grand Park 200 N. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Daredevils will have a field day at Red Bull’s Soapbox Race, which will transform Grand Park into a cinematic racecourse, where 30 teams, selected from more than 400 applicants, will compete with gravity-powered, homemade crafts for ultimate bragging rights.
Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers: Day of Black Docs
Saturday, May 16, 12 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. American Film Institute 2021 North Western Ave., Los Feliz COST: FROM $23; MORE INFO
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Check out documentaries from Black filmmakers that “explore themes of social justice, self-determination, and community, highlighting the revolutionary leaders and movements that can help inform our present moment.” The day includes three feature-length films and one short film, with two that focus on L.A. history. Q&As will be moderated by journalist and AirTalk film critic Tim Cogshell.
Balboa Island Art Walk
Sunday, May 17, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. South Bayfront Promenade Newport Beach COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Balboa Island Artwalk
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Is there a more idyllic corner of SoCal than Balboa Island? Stroll the promenade and enjoy the art and the views at the 31st annual Balboa Island Art Walk. There’s live music and more than 90 artists showing their work with an ocean backdrop.
AAPI Market at Yama Sushi Marketplace
Through Saturday, May 30 Various locations (West L.A., San Gabriel and Koreatown) COST: VARIES, MORE INFO
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Courtesy Yama Sushi
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A rotating lineup of makers featuring Asian-owned brands is popping up at Yama Sushi Marketplace throughout May. This weekend, Omiso founder Ai Fujimoto will be sampling her yuzu miso paired with Yama’s black cod; also available for purchase as a frozen item. On May 30, DoShop Cookies will be available with baker Thy Do sampling her fan-favorite cookies, debuting new flavors and hosting a raffle.
Aaron Schrank
has been on the ground, reporting on homelessness and other issues in L.A. for more than a decade.
Published May 14, 2026 5:00 AM
Two tents on a sidewalk in Hollywood
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Ethan Ward
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LAist
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Topline:
A group of volunteers in Hollywood say they are conducting their own homeless count in the area next week because they don't trust the results of the official regional one. The effort is organized by Hollywood 4WRD.
Hollywood count: About 60 volunteers, mostly staff from Hollywood service provider organizations, are expected to fan out across 30 census tracts Tuesday. Results will be made public a week later May 27, according to organizers.
Why it matters: The neighborhood count comes amid growing questions about the accuracy of the official regional homeless tally. The city of L.A.'s unhoused population decreased by 5.5% between 2023 and 2025, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. But a2025 analysis by the RAND Corporation found LAHSA had undercounted people living outside in certain areas, including Hollywood.
Since 2021, RAND researchers have conducted their own counts in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice. That research effort, known as LA LEADS, has since lost funding.
Read on ... for details on the Hollywood count.
A group of volunteers in Hollywood say they are conducting their own homeless count in the area next week because they don't trust the results of the official regional one.
The effort is organized by Hollywood 4WRD, a coalition of nonprofit service providers, businesses and residents. About 60 volunteers, mostly staff from Hollywood service provider organizations, are expected to fan out across 30 census tracts Tuesday.
Results will be made public a week later May 27, according to organizers.
The neighborhood count comes amid growing questions about the accuracy of the official regional homeless tally.
The city of L.A.'s unhoused population decreased by 5.5% between 2023 and 2025, according toofficial estimates from the annual count conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA. But a2025 analysis by the RAND Corporation found that LAHSA undercounted people living outside in certain areas, including Hollywood.
Hollywood 4WRD executive director Brittney Weissman said the organization’s own experience volunteering for the LAHSA count this year raised even more questions about accuracy.
“Our experience was so confounding, perplexing and inefficient that we've been really deeply questioning the value, utility and accuracy of the count for a couple of years now,” Weissman said.
Organizers said the Hollywood count will use methodology developed by RAND researchers, who ran their own professional counts in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice from 2021 until earlier this year.
That research effort, known as LA LEADS, has since lost funding.
“If LA LEADS was continuously funded into the future, we would not be doing this effort,” Weissman said. "Because it's no longer funded, we felt we needed to take our own initiative to understand the lay of the land here.”
What's at stake?
More than $300 million in federal and county dollars are allocated annually based on homeless count results. That includes $220 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and nearly $100 million from L.A. County's Measure A sales tax.
LAHSA conducted its most recent official homeless count in January. The agency said it hopes to release the results this summer but has not confirmed a release date.
In her reelection campaign, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass takes credit for reducing homelessness in the city. The official count underpinning her claim is the same one RAND found was missing nearly a third of unsheltered people in key neighborhoods.
Weissman said Hollywood service providers need to know now whether more people are living in vehicles or sleeping outside, so they can adjust how they're doing outreach.
Organizers timed the May 27 release to influence budget negotiations still underway at City Hall, according to Weissman.
She noted that Bass' proposed budget does not include funding for Safe Parking LA, a program that allows unhoused Angelenos to live legally in their vehicles within sanctioned parking lots.
"If we find that vehicular homelessness is on the rise here and we need it badly, this gives us evidence with which to petition decisionmakers for that resource in our community," she said.
What RAND found
RAND's LA LEADS project ran bimonthly counts in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice from 2021 until this January.
Comparing LAHSA’s official counts to its own, a RAND report found the 2025 homeless count captured 68% of the unsheltered population across those three neighborhoods.
RAND found the population of unsheltered people in Hollywood dropped 49% in 2024, a decline it linked to the city’s Inside Safe program. But the official LAHSA count still captured only 81% of what RAND found in the neighborhood.
The people being missed were mostly vehicle dwellers and “rough sleepers” — people living with no shelter, RAND said.
Skid Row's official tally fared worse, capturing 61% of what RAND found there.
Hollywood 4WRD said its methodology follows RAND’s LA LEADS methodology, which the group said is more precise than LAHSA’s approach.
Each census tract will be covered by at least two independent volunteers, a quality-control measure that helps organizers flag areas that might need to be recounted.
Volunteers will also use pens and paper to record their observations, instead of a mobile app. LAHSA has used an app for its count since 2022 and has acknowledged repeated technical problems with it.
The unofficial homeless count this month is limited to Hollywood, unlike LAHSA's countywide effort. Weissman said she hopes the effort will encourage other neighborhoods to check their own local data.
Keep up with LAist.
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Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published May 14, 2026 5:00 AM
Eight decades in, the original Tommy's stand at Beverly and Rampart still glows.
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Courtesy Original Tommy's
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Topline:
Original Tommy's turns 80 this week. To mark the octogenarian occasion, on Friday, a chili cheeseburger will cost you just 80 cents instead of the regular $5.50 at all locations, noon-8 p.m.
Why it matters: In Los Angeles, you can't get more local than a Tommy's Burger. Consuming the smothered burger — its signature beanless chili dripping through the to-go wrapper — is a rite of passage for many. Eight decades in, the original stand is still standing at Beverly and Rampart.
The details: On Friday, noon to 8 p.m. only, you can get 80-cent chili cheeseburgers (limit three per person) at all Southern California and Nevada locations. The anniversary celebration at the original downtown L.A. location includes the Belmont High School Marching Band, a DJ and a resolution from Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez , who represents the area, honoring 80 years of business in California.
The backstory: Tommy Koulax opened the original stand at Beverly and Rampart in 1946. This week, the iconic SoCal chain, which spawned many competitors, celebrates 80 years across all 32 of its locations — and you're invited. Daughter Cynthia Koulax will be greeting the community Friday, alongside CEO Dawna Bernal and CFO Richard Hicks.
Topline:
Original Tommy's turns 80 this week. To mark the octogenarian occasion, on Friday, a chili cheeseburger will cost you just 80 cents instead of the regular $5.50 at all locations, noon-8 p.m.
Why it matters: In Los Angeles, you can't get more local than a Tommy's Burger. Consuming the smothered burger — its signature beanless chili dripping through the to-go wrapper — is a rite of passage for many. Eight decades in, the original stand is still standing at Beverly and Rampart.
The details: Friday, noon to 8 p.m. only, you can get 80-cent chili cheeseburgers (limit three per person) at all Southern California and Nevada locations. The anniversary celebration at the original downtown L.A. location includes the Belmont High School Marching Band, a DJ and a resolution from Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez , who represents the area, honoring 80 years of business in California.
The backstory: Tommy Koulax opened the original stand at Beverly and Rampart in 1946. This week, the iconic SoCal chain, which spawned many competitors, celebrates 80 years across all 32 of its locations — and you're invited. Daughter Cynthia Koulax will be greeting the community Friday, alongside CEO Dawna Bernal and CFO Richard Hicks.
Henry Wilkinson and Kristina Ross record a makeshift shelter during LAHSA's homeless count Jan. 20.
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Jordan Rynning
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LAist
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Topline:
Every December, the federal government releases a report that reveals the number of homeless residents in each state and across the country. It’s now May and the report, which compiles data from a homeless census known as the “point-in-time count,” is nowhere to be found.
Point in time count: For the past two decades, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has required local regions to take a census of their homeless populations every other year in a massive undertaking called the point-in-time count. Volunteers go out on foot over a day or two in January and count every person they see living outside. People sleeping in shelters are tallied as well. Counters also conduct surveys of a sample of unhoused people, collecting extra data on people’s race, age, gender, time spent homeless, medical and mental health conditions, and more. Each jurisdiction must submit their count to HUD by the spring. They also release their local data to the public. Meanwhile, HUD verifies the data, tallies the total count for each state and for the country as a whole, submits a public report to Congress and uploads more detailed data on its website.
Why it matters: While there’s no legal deadline, that report usually comes out in December of the year of the count. It’s unclear why the 2025 report still isn’t out. The delay is a problem because the report dictates how funding is allocated in California and beyond. It also shapes policy decisions and provides the country’s main barometer for how the homelessness crisis is being managed. The five-month delay is leaving public officials, policymakers and advocates scratching their heads. California has filled the gap by tallying its own data, showing a 9% drop in the number of people sleeping outside. But unlike the official federal report, California’s analysis leaves out information such as the race, age and mental health status of the people who are counted. And without the full federal report, there’s no way to tell where California stands compared to other states.
Every December, the federal government releases a report that reveals the number of homeless residents in each state and across the country.
It’s now May and the report, which compiles data from a homeless census known as the “point-in-time count,” is nowhere to be found.
That’s a problem because the report dictates how funding is allocated in California and beyond. It also shapes policy decisions and provides the country’s main barometer for how the homelessness crisis is being managed.
The five-month delay is leaving public officials, policymakers and advocates scratching their heads. California has filled the gap by tallying its own data, showing a 9% drop in the number of people sleeping outside. But unlike the official federal report, California’s analysis leaves out information such as the race, age and mental health status of the people who are counted. And without the full federal report, there’s no way to tell where California stands compared to other states.
“It’s a big deal,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, spokesperson for the National Homelessness Law Center. “This is, by what I can tell, the latest any point-in-time count has ever come out, including the years where it was delayed during COVID.”
'Point-in-time' count
For the past two decades, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has required local regions to take a census of their homeless populations every other year in a massive undertaking called the point-in-time count. Volunteers go out on foot over a day or two in January and count every person they see living outside. People sleeping in shelters are tallied as well. Counters also conduct surveys of a sample of unhoused people, collecting extra data on people’s race, age, gender, time spent homeless, medical and mental health conditions and more.
The count isn’t perfect (volunteers can easily miss people, and different counties use different methods), but it’s a key tool policy makers use to measure changes in the population.
Each jurisdiction (which is known in HUD parlance as a “continuum of care” and typically is made up of a county and the cities within it) must submit their count to HUD by the spring. They also release their local data to the public. Meanwhile, HUD verifies the data, tallies the total count for each state and for the country as a whole, submits a public report to Congress and uploads more detailed data on its website.
While there’s no legal deadline, that report usually comes out in December of the year of the count. In 2021 and 2020, when COVID disrupted counts, the reports came out the following February and March, respectively.
It’s unclear why the 2025 report still isn’t out. The report is so much later than usual that some counties, including San Francisco, already released their 2026 count data.
HUD refused to comment.
“It is perplexing that HUD has not released this information,” Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said in a statement to CalMatters. “Perhaps the Trump administration is afraid to release clear data that demonstrates California’s strategies for addressing this issue are actually extremely effective.”
What California's data show
California’s data does point to a reduction in homelessness, suggesting the state’s methods are starting to work. Data provided by the Newsom administration, and echoed by an independent analysis, show a 4% overall decrease between 2024 and 2025, and a 9% drop in people sleeping in tents, on the sidewalk, in cars or in other places not meant for habitation.
That data comes from the 30 California continuums of care that counted their street homeless populations last year. The remaining 14 that counted this year instead (they’re only required to count at least every other year) are not included.
“I think it shows that the headwinds in California continue to be very strong and continue to push more people into homelessness,” said Alex Visotzky, senior California policy fellow for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “but the investments to build up the response to homelessness have made a really big difference and are moving people out of homelessness faster than ever before.”
That runs counter to President Donald Trump’s platform, which holds California up as an example of failed homelessness policy. California follows a principle called “housing first,” which prioritizes getting people into housing immediately and then addressing their other needs (such as mental health and substance use help). The Trump administration wants to end housing first, which it says isn’t working, and instead withhold housing until people enroll in addiction treatment or other programs.
California also uses most of its federal funds to pay for permanent housing, which experts say is the most effective way to end someone’s homelessness. The Trump administration recently tried to divert that money to temporary shelters where people stay for a limited time.
California's homelessness strategy
California is one of 19 states suing the Trump administration over that change. That case is ongoing, but, in a win for the states, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s changes.
A drop in homelessness in California would have a significant impact on the country’s overall homeless population. Nearly a quarter of all unhoused Americans lived in California as of 2024 — a total of more than 187,000 people, according to the most recent HUD report.
The New York Times found homelessness also dropped in other places around the country last year, including Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Florida and Maine, which it found points to a nationwide reduction.
If homelessness dropped nationwide in 2025, it would be the first time in eight years. In 2024, the national count hit 771,480 — an 18% increase from the year before.
