Los Angeles County is recruiting up to 6,000 volunteers to count the city's homeless population. The effort began Tuesday night and is expected to last three days, officials said.
The street count, led by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, is part of county government efforts to grapple with a homelessness crisis that has paralyzed the city, with tens of thousands of people living on the streets, in cars, tents and makeshift street shelters. It supports these efforts. These temporary housing units are mushrooming on sidewalks, parks, and other community areas.
The so-called “point-in-time” count estimates how many people are homeless and what economic and medical services they need due to underlying mental health conditions or drug addiction. It is an object.
The tally comes amid growing frustration among Californians over lawmakers' inability to stop the country's homeless population from surging. Since 2015, homelessness has increased by 70% in Los Angeles County and 80% in the City of Los Angeles.
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A homeless person sleeps on a blanket on top of cardboard in Los Angeles as volunteers participate in the third night of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Homelessness Census on February 24, 2022. (Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2023, officials reported more than 75,500 people were homeless per night in Los Angeles County, an increase of 9% from the previous year, to about 46,200 people in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) began the count Tuesday night in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian (right), Los Angeles County 5th Supervisory District Representative Kathryn Berger (left), and Los Angeles County 3rd Supervisory District Representative Lindsey P. Horvath (center) walk the streets. On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, the annual homeless count begins in Los Angeles' North Hollywood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Mayor Karen Bass takes office as de office. On November 11, 2022, she used her first full day in office to declare a state of emergency in response to a spike in homelessness in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
“Homelessness is an emergency and we all need to work together to combat this emergency,” Bass said in a statement, calling the count an “important tool to tackle the homelessness crisis.” Ta.
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Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness on his first day in office in December 2022.
He announced that more than 21,000 unhoused people were moved to rented hotels and other temporary shelters throughout 2023. The city also said last month it was removing street encampments and planning additional housing projects.
People walk past a homeless camp near a Target store on September 28, 2023 in Los Angeles. Republican and Democratic state and local legislators are currently trying to overturn a lower court ruling that blocks their authority to clear encampments of unhoused people. Dozens of leaders, including from California and other Western states, filed suit with the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. Skid Row is home to thousands of people living on the streets and in shelters. (Tama Mario/Getty Images)
A homeless encampment on a roadside in Los Angeles on December 6, 2022. Tens of thousands of people are sleeping rough on the streets of Los Angeles as a result of an infectious disease that is shocking many visitors to one of the wealthiest urban centers on the planet. (Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
The annual tally of homelessness in Los Angeles County is required by the federal government for Los Angeles and other cities to qualify for certain federal funds.
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The results are expected to be announced in late spring or early summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
