Andrea Curry, Tehama County Continuum of Care, presented the county’s 2025 point‑in‑time count to the Red Bluff City Council, reporting a total of 334 people counted on Jan. 29, 2025 — 108 in sheltered settings and 226 unsheltered.

Curry said unsheltered homelessness declined by about 9% from 2023 to 2025, but overall homelessness rose because shelter capacity increased. “Our emergency shelter bed capacity more than doubled” between counts, she said, and supported bed capacity across emergency, transitional and permanent supportive housing rose roughly 60 percent.

The nut graf: the shift in where people are counted matters for local policy. Council members heard that new shelter capacity and added case management helped move people off streets into temporary or supported beds, but that rising inflow to the system — new households becoming homeless — remains the principal barrier to long‑term reductions.

Curry gave several headline figures: 108 people in emergency or transitional shelter, 226 unsheltered, 334 total; shelter bed capacity rose by about 60 percent; and housing efficiency — the share of people not living on the street — increased from about 49% in 2023 to 54% in 2025. She also said the continuum’s data show 768 people moved from homelessness into permanent housing between the two counts, while 1,145 individuals entered the system for the first time.

Jimmy Ralston, director of operations for PATH, described the Navigation Center’s role in recent changes and offered a concrete outcome: “Since our opening day, May 1, we’ve housed 190 households as of the seventh of this month,” he told council members.

Council members asked whether newcomers to Tehama County were driving the local counts. Curry replied that about 76% of surveyed adults reported having been housed in Tehama County at some point; among those who had not, more than half were last housed elsewhere in California and the remainder in other states. She said the county’s outreach and engagement improvements — not a single geographic source — accounted for some local increases in particular places.

Curry and Ralston emphasized causes that limit outflow to housing: an insufficient supply of affordable housing, constraints on rapid‑rehousing programs when there is no housing stock to move people into, and reductions or uncertainty in federal and state funding streams. “Until those inflow and outflow numbers even out, we can’t expect the issue to actually improve,” Curry said.

Council members and members of the public raised questions about whether migrants or people passing through account for the counts; Curry and Ralston said the data show only a small number of people are simply passing through and that most surveyed reported ties to the region or a previous housing history in Tehama County.

The presentation closed with an invitation: Curry noted a public community meeting on July 30 for feedback and discussion of program plans and funding applications. Ralston said PATH’s expanded case management and outreach were central to recent shelter placements but reiterated that the durable solution is more housing stock and funding to move people from shelter into stable housing.

Ending: Councilmembers thanked COC staff and PATH for the report and asked staff to share the full point‑in‑time report and to coordinate on the July 30 community meeting.