Homelessness in Los Angeles County and the city of Los Angeles increased by 9% and 10% last year, highlighting the challenges faced by officials in reducing the number of people living on the streets. Despite efforts to house people, including hundreds of millions of dollars spent on shelter, permanent housing, and outreach, the growth of street encampments has not been slowed down, as shown in the annual point-in-time count released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count estimates that over 75,000 people experience homelessness in the county on any given night. Since the 2015 count, homelessness has increased by 70% in the county and 80% in the city. LAHSA’s new chief executive, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, expressed disappointment with the disappointing results despite the hard work and investment. She noted that people are falling into homelessness faster than they can be housed, despite the belief that the curve was flattening with last year’s numbers.
Adams Kellum attributed the growth of homelessness to economic factors, citing a study by UC San Francisco that found income decreases as the most common reason for losing housing among people with leases before becoming homeless. The Westside and Harbor areas of Los Angeles saw the most growth, with each experiencing a 45% increase in homeless individuals. The unsheltered population countywide increased by 14% to over 55,000, while the count of those in shelters declined slightly to just over 20,000, primarily from street dwellers. The annual count revealed an 18% rise in chronic homelessness, particularly among those living outdoors. Over 27,000 people living on the street with disabling health, mental health, or substance use conditions were homeless over a year, 5,000 more than the previous year.
Additionally, 7,000 chronically homeless people were in shelters, a 7% increase. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has expressed frustration over the recent growth in homeless residents, with Black people making up 31% of the population. The Latino portion has leveled off at nearly 43%, while Asians have more than doubled. A survey found that 25% of homeless people self-reported experiencing severe mental illness, and 30% reported substance use disorder. Bass emphasized the need to work urgently to bring Angelenos into the homeless crisis, stating that the situation is an emergency that depends on lives. She urged leaders at every level of government to support people experiencing homelessness and address the crisis as a crisis.
Los Angeles County’s homeless population has been increasing annually since 2015, except for one year in 2015, when the city and county began investing in homeless housing and services. In 2016, Los Angeles City voters adopted Proposition HHH, a $1.2-billion bond measure to build new homeless housing, and Measure H, a quarter-percent sales tax that generates over $350 million annually for various initiatives. The city and county leaders credited these initiatives for a 4% decrease in the 2018 count, followed by two years of double-digit increases. After the COVID-19 pandemic, two more years of increases followed. During Mayor Eric Garcetti’s tenure, the city’s spending on homelessness grew from a few million to about $1 billion, with $1.3 billion allotted to homeless programs. Over 14,000 people experiencing homelessness were moved off the streets during her first six months, with about 30% acquiring permanent housing and an additional 10,049 placed in interim housing through city and county programs.
