After postponing the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homelessness Count due to the January fire, the LA Department of Homelessness Services launched its annual business Tuesday night.
This tally provides a point-in-time snapshot of the homeless throughout the care of the LA Continuum, covering most of the region except cities in Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale. This year’s count begins with hundreds of volunteers crossing the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valley and the Metro Los Angeles area.
Lahsa CEO VA Lecia Adams Kellum, LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis and City Councilman Eunisses Hernandez meet at El Rio Community School, 211 S. Ave. 20, on Tuesday at 7pm to begin operations for three days. will be held.
Mayor Karen Bass, Council Presidents Marchec Harris Dawson, Wendy Gruel, Chairman of the Rahasa Committee and Co-Chair of the Living Experience Advisory Committee, Shawn Pleasens, are expected to be present as well. Masu.
Volunteers will take them to town Wednesday to count the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles camps, RVs and other homes that are combined. On Thursday’s final night, volunteers will span the Antelope Valley, West Los Angeles, South Los Angeles and the South Bay/Harbor area.
The Joint County Urban Agency is planning to release data from the count in late spring or early summer.
Last year’s count found 75,518 impervious people in Los Angeles County, down 27% compared to 46,260 in 2023. Officials also noted a decline in unsheld homelessness across the county, falling 5.1% in 2023, while evacuated people fell 5.1%. The count increased by 12.7%
In Los Angeles, unsheltered homelessness fell by 10.7%, but shelters increased by 17.7%. That is, more barren individuals were located in temporary homes such as motels, hotels, shelters and other types of facilities.
This data represents the first overall decline in the homeless population after a steady rise over five years.
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development published a report in December that found a 18% increase in homelessness in 2024, but emphasized that LA is one of the few cities that backed it up.
Nationwide trends.
In the report, the federal agency highlighted the Maui fire, which led to an increase in homelessness, amidst a natural disaster. This is what Los Angeles County officials share following the catastrophic January wildfires that destroyed Palisade and Altadena communities in the Pacific. Authorities are crafting measures aimed at helping people at risk of becoming homeless due to the fire.
Meanwhile, at the county and city level, two separate similar proposals were introduced, with elected officials agreeing to explore the creation of departments to focus on homeless services.
The move is that the county’s auditor supervision department’s report did not recover cash advances provided to subcontractors, establishing a repayment schedule for subcontractors, and appropriate measures to track awarded cash advances. It came after citing several concerns about managing homeless funding in Lahasa, including the lack of records. A contract that documents whether the subcontractor receiving the funds actually met their terms because they did not properly monitor the contracts between other agencies and the receiving agencies.
Kellum previously pointed out that some issues were the result of fiscal practices during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lahsa officials highlighted some measures aimed at fixing these issues.
LA City Council members criticized the agency for their “lack of transparency” about data and operations.
In response, Lahsa created a new data dashboard on its website last year, providing better photos of its work. The dashboard gives viewers access to data on Street Outreach, interim housing and time limit subsidies. Details of the program funded by Lahsa and its effectiveness. Like the Bass’ Inside Safe Initiative and the county’s Pathway Home program, both aim to cut camps and bring people to temporary housing.
The dashboard can show how many people have entered the reconstruction system in each city council or supervisory board district, how many individual programs have supported, and the performance of local service providers.
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