Homeless count results show LA's homeless numbers continue to grow
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority official count reports a 9 % year-over-year increase in Los Angeles County's homeless.
The increase comes as funding and intervention programs have expanded.
According to the results of the count conducted over two days in January, there were 75,518 people experiencing homelessness in the county, and 46,260 in the city of Los Angeles. That's up from 69,144 in the county last year, and 41,980 in the city.
Mayor Karen Bass addressed the findings and said the next big issue to tackle, is figuring out how to prevent homelessness.
"We also have to figure out how to prevent people from falling into homelessness. So frankly, all that we are doing now, I'm worried that next year the count might be even larger because we do not have a way of preventing homelessness," said Bass.
The figures continue to show a steady climb in the number of Southland homeless people over the past five years. In 2018, there were 52,765 homeless counted in the county, and 31,285 in the city.
"These results are disappointing," Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Hahn said in a statement. "It is frustrating to have more people fall into homelessness even as we are investing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and resources into efforts to bring people inside."
"I hold out hope that the new partnership between the county and city of Los Angeles will make a difference and help us more effectively address this crisis. 2023 needs to be a watershed year for us where we turn these trends around," said Hahn.
Volunteers worked for two days in groups of four to count the number of unsheltered individuals, tents, vehicles and makeshift shelters in their census tract.
In January, LAHSA officials stated that the one-time federal pandemic assistance programs ending could lead to more housing insecurity and fewer resources for re-housing systems to respond.
LAHSA officials stated they took several steps to improve this year's count, including implementing a new counting app, hiring a demographer and two data scientists, simplifying volunteer training, and adding accountability measures.
The annual count began in 2016 to provide the county with analysis and trends of people experiencing homelessness, and to provide a blueprint for distributing homelessness program funds.
