Finally, the homeless numbers in the city of Los Angeles are moving in the right direction.
The results of the 2024 point-in-time homeless count released on Friday show a 2.2% decrease in the population of homeless people living in the city of Los Angeles, from 46,260 in 2023 to 45,252. There is no big difference, but it is very important and hopeful, especially if the 2023 figure increases by 10% from 41,980 in 2022.
No problem in the county and city of Los Angeles is more severe, expensive and painful than trying to house and help tens of thousands of people living on sidewalks and shelters. So it’s heartening to see that the strategy that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has put in place seems to be working.
Their Inside Safe program focuses on moving people from encampments across the city into interim housing, mostly in the form of hotels and motels, but also tiny houses. The county has a similar interim housing program called Pathway Home and also provides services to homeless people who live in interim and permanent housing.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles County, the number averaged from the previous year, down 0.27%, from 75,518 to 75,312. It’s not much, but it’s a big improvement from the 9% increase the previous year. Also encouraging is that the number of chronically homeless people – those who have been homeless for a year or more and have at least one disability, health condition or substance use problem – fell 6.8% from 31,991 to 29,823.
The fact that there has been some progress after so many years – the number has continued to increase since 2018 – is the result of city and county officials working together in an unprecedented way, according to Va Lecia Adams Kellum, chief of Los Angeles. Angeles Elderly Services Authority. For example, both governments have declared homelessness an emergency.
LAHSA reported that the county made a record 27,951 residential placements last year. Surprisingly, people continue to become homeless for the first time and replace those who get housing.
Adams Kellum said the number of homeless people would be worse without a variety of city and county services, as well as rental subsidies and housing vouchers that allow the homeless to find a place to live. Eviction protection has prevented others from losing their homes. Also about 4,000 city-funded permanent housing units for the homeless — including units funded through the city’s Proposition HHH bond measure — became available in the past 12 months, according to city housing officials.
The most dramatic change found in the 2024 count was the shift between the homeless and homeless population. The number of people living on the streets, in parks, by the river, in cars or in other places outside decreased by 5.1%, while the number of people living in temporary housing increased by 12.7%. It was even more dramatic in the city, where the homeless population fell by 10.4% while the shelter population increased by 17.7%.
No doubt this has something to do with Inside Safe. According to LAHSA, 2,754 people went through Inside Safe since May. More than 500 people were eventually permanently installed. The county’s Pathway Home has moved 629 people into temporary housing since April.
In Safe also appears to have changed the demographics of the homeless. For example, the number of homeless people in South Los Angeles (including LA, Compton and other cities) increased by 891. Adams Kellum, said that many of the increases were due to the influx of homeless people into camps from other parts of the city and county to . affordable motels and hotels.
LA City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who chairs the council’s Poverty and Poverty Committee, said the reduction in homelessness is not solely due to Inside Safe. He said the city is adding 3,000 new shelter beds starting in 2021 as well as adding permanent city-funded supportive housing units.
All this promises, but only creates problems. Not only does LA need more supportive housing for the homeless, but it also needs more affordable housing in general. Homeless people with vouchers in hand cannot use them if they cannot find an apartment. Getting the homeless into temporary housing and shelter is essential. But moving people into permanent housing is what will bring the number of homeless people down significantly.
