The 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count concluded Thursday night after thousands of volunteers went to work on the streets over the past three days. The collected data will help determine the distribution of funding for temporary and permanent housing, as well as unhoused services, including substance abuse prevention and mental health programs.
Populations in South L.A., Downtown L.A. and Antelope Valley were all counted on Thursday night after coordination by the L.A. Homeless Service Authority ( LAHSA). On Wednesday, residents scoured West and East L.A., and on Tuesday, both the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys.
Between 2020 and 2022, the number of unhoused individuals rose by 4.1% to approximately 69,144 people across L.A. County. Of that population, 41,980 are estimated to call L.A. city home, an increase of 1.7%. Due to COVID-19; the city did not conduct a count in 2021.
Those participating were instructed to enter data into a mobile app and manually in some areas on paper backups. Volunteers estimated the number of people by counting cars, tents and other makeshift installations.
“A better word would be estimate,” said Andy Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission Los Angeles. “And it’s true that people drive around town and if they see a tent, they say one person lives in there.They don’t have time to go look inside the tent, nor could they rightly even go look inside the tent.”
Data from the count will not be made fully available for several months.
Bales also stressed the importance and severity of the homeless issue here in Los Angeles. Since the Great Depression, the city of Los Angeles has continued to host the largest unhoused population in the country.
“We have more people suffering from street homelessness than any other city, any other metropolis in the history of the United States,” Bales said. “In fact, no other city comes within a 10th of the number of people that we have on the streets.”
Bales expects the population to increase yet again. “A recent study by the RAND Corporation suggested that the count could be up as much as 18.5% or even 20%,” Bales said.
The count sits on the heels of last year’s intensive city mayoral race where the crisis remained a decisive issue. In her first act as mayor last month, Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness.
“Everybody wants to say, ‘well, what can I do?’ Well, this is an example of what you can do,” Bass said during a press conference last Monday.
Newly appointed LAHSA CEO, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, also called for civic involvement. Formerly the CEO of the St. Joseph Center in Venice, she was also a part of Bass’s mayoral transition team.
“Together, we will transform LAHSA into an instrument of systemic change and a model for addressing homelessness on our streets,” Kellum said in a statement last week. “Each of us knows the time is now for action.”