DATA STORY
Homelessness Prevention
Tracks how many people receive financial help to stay housed and avoid becoming homeless
Measure Description
This measure shows the number of people at risk of homelessness who receive prevention services each month.
These services include flexible financial aid, such as help paying rent, move-in costs, and other housing related expenses. This helps people stay in their home or move into stable housing before becoming homeless.
Why this Measure is Important
The City provides services to prevent homelessness as well as services to support people experiencing homelessness.
By supporting people before they lose their housing, targeted prevention programs reduce the need for shelter or other crisis services.
People Receiving Homelessness Prevention Services
The chart's legend is below:
- Y-axis: Number of unique people
- X-Axis: Time period
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Data notes and sources
Visit DataSF to access the scorecard data.
Data is updated monthly.
Data lag time: 3 weeks.
HSH tracks each head of household receiving services. This measure identifies the total number of people served based on the household size as identified in the Prevention Assistance application. This data may undercount the total number of people served in prevention programs. Prevention applications are tracked by identifying the head of household and a count of people in the household. Any households that receive prevention services multiple times within a reporting period are deduplicated by head of household and if household sizes differ between applications, the largest number is counted. Because the City does not track the details of other individuals within the household, if the members differ between applications the deduplicated data would not reflect the total number of people served by prevention.
The Homelessness Response System Scorecard methodology was updated in September 2025. Previous prevention data was reported on the household-level and only included households served by HSH. Current prevention data is reported at the person level and includes people served by both HSH and the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD).
How Performance is Measured
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) released their strategic plan, Home by the Bay, in early 2023. The plan includes a goal to provide prevention services to at least 18,000 people by 2028. To meet that goal, the City needs to provide prevention services to an average of 3,600 people per year.
People may receive prevention services from different programs Citywide. This includes the San Francisco Emergency Rental Assistance Program (SF ERAP) that both HSH and the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) administer. This measure includes people who receive financial assistance from all SF ERAP as well as other HSH-administered programs.
Additional Information
- View additional information about programs on HSH's website.
- Find prevention resources in San Francisco.
- Read more about the Homelessness Response System.
- Learn more about San Francisco's strategic framework to address homelessness.
City Performance Scorecards
- This page is part of the City Performance Scorecards.
- Return to the Homelessness Response System Scorecard.
- Return to the City Performance Scorecards Home Page.