DATA STORY
Returns to Homelessness
Tracks the percentage of people who return to the Homelessness Response System within 1 year after exiting to stable housing
Measure Description
This measure shows the percentage of unique people who exited homelessness to a stable housing situation who then returned to the Homelessness Response System (HRS) within 1 year. This page displays data as a rolling 12 month average, updated every 6 months.
Why this Measure is Important
The goal of the City’s HRS is to make homelessness rare, brief, and one-time. This includes both helping people exit homelessness and ensuring they remain housed. This measure looks at returns to homelessness. Tracking returns to homelessness helps the City understand how well housing placements are working in the long term. It can also help identify where more support may be needed to help people remain stably housed after exiting homelessness.
Returns to Homelessness
The chart's legend is below:
- Y-axis: Percentage of unique people who returned to the HRS
- X-Axis: Date range. Data is updated every 6 months and each data point is an average of the past 12 months.
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Data notes and sources
Visit DataSF to access the scorecard data.
Data is updated every 6 months.
Data lag time: 3 weeks.
HSH tracks each person receiving HRS services in the ONE system. This measure is calculated by looking at all unique individuals who exited homelessness 12 months prior to the reporting period, then assessing if they have a subsequent enrollment in any HRS programs where they indicate that their prior living situation was not permanent housing. For example, if a data point is for Calendar Year 2024 (January 2024 – December 2024), it looks at everyone who exited homelessness within the 12 months prior to the reporting period (January 2023 – December 2023) and assesses if that population had another enrollment in the 12 months following their exit from homelessness.
How Performance is Measured
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) released their strategic plan, Home by the Bay, in early 2023. One of the five outlined goals is to support people to succeed in housing. The plan sets a goal that 85% of people who exit homelessness do not experience it again. This measure helps assess if HSH is meeting that goal, by setting a target that no more than 15% of people who exit homelessness return to homelessness and receive HRS services within 1 year.
HSH calculates this measure by pulling data for all people who exited homelessness to permanent housing 1 year prior to the reporting period. HSH then assesses if they later enrolled in an HRS program serving people experiencing homelessness. For example, if a data point is for calendar year 2024 (January 2024 – December 2024), it looks at everyone who exited homelessness between January 2023 and December 2023. HSH then assesses if each person enrolled in an HRS program again in the year after their exit from homelessness.
This page updates every 6 months with rolling annual data.
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.