Los Angeles homelessness figures severely undercounted, report finds
Tori Richards
Los Angeles County appears to have severely shorted the number of homeless people on its streets in a 2022 study, according to a newly released survey by Rand Corp.
A Sept. 8 report by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said 69,144 people were homeless, a 4.1% increase over 2020. The yearly count conducted by volunteers is used as a benchmark for state and federal tax dollars to eradicate the constantly growing crisis.
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“This year’s Homeless Count results offer a stark contrast to the results of the Homeless Counts between 2018 and 2020, where LA County saw a 25.9% increase and the City of LA experienced a 32% increase,” the organization said in a press release at the time.
But the true numbers are likely at least double what the county is reporting. A similar scenario happened when the federal government undercounted thousands of homeless veterans in Southern California, a Washington Examiner investigation found.
Rand looked at three homeless hot spots — Hollywood, Skid Row, and Venice — and found undercounts of at least double. Hollywood increased by 14.5%, Skid Row was 13%, and the beachside community of Venice was a whopping 32% over the prior year.
FEDS UNDERCOUNT HOMELESS VETERANS ON THE STREETS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
The survey was conducted by staff who spent a year counting and analyzing data in the three areas. They found that only one-third of the homeless were willing to move into group housing, while half had been offered housing in the past but were still on the streets.
“Our findings suggest that in many cases, volunteer-led counts result in accurate estimates of the area’s unsheltered population,” said Jason Ward, the report’s author. “But in other cases, we see evidence of fairly large discrepancies that suggest possible room for improvements to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority process.”
For example, the report found that a Venice homeless camp cleanup in June resulted in a 13% decrease, but the numbers went back up to their previous level when surveyors found that the people had moved into vehicles parked around the area.
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The county’s volunteer surveyors receive less than an hour of training and are not engaging in the discussions with the homeless. The count also takes place over a three-day period.