Los Angeles’ homeless population has fallen for the first time in six years, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported Friday.
The number of homeless people in Los Angeles County decreased by 0.275% to 75,312, according to the 2024 Los Angeles County Homeless Count released Friday.
The homeless population in Los Angeles decreased 2.2% to 45,252.
This was the first decline in six years.
43% of homeless people are Latino
The group’s annual survey in January showed the number of homeless people in Los Angeles County fell by 0.275%, or about 200 people, to 75,312.
In Los Angeles, the number of cases fell 2.2% to 45,252.
“The evidence shows that our united approach and coordinated efforts to address the issue of unsheltered, street homelessness are working,” LAHSA Executive Director Va Lecia Adams Kellam said at a press conference announcing the latest homelessness statistics.
Each year, LAHSA conducts the nation’s largest annual point-in-time count at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and reviews and validates the data. The 2024 count results show a decrease in homelessness in Los Angeles for the first time since 2017. In the 2023 count, homelessness in Los Angeles County increased 9% to an estimated 75,518 people, and in the City of Los Angeles it increased 10% to an estimated 46,260 people.
The largest group of homeless people is Latino (43%), followed by black (31%) and white (29%).
The LA survey separates homeless people into those who are sheltered and those who are unsheltered. The survey found a 5.1% decrease in unsheltered street homelessness and a 12.7% increase in sheltered homelessness compared to last year.
The share of unhoused homeless people among youth declined from 3% in 2023 to 1.8% in 2024, while the share of unhoused adults declined from 70% in 2023 to 67.7% this year.
LAHSA said there was a 47% increase in people experiencing street homelessness moving into temporary housing in 2024, and a 25% increase in homeless people moving from temporary housing to permanent housing.
The point-in-time count found that the number of homeless people living in cars, vans, tents and temporary housing has decreased, while the number of people living in RVs has increased.
Although the overall number of homeless people is improving, there are more people who are homeless than those who are housed.
According to LAHSA, for every 100 people who move out of homelessness in 2023, 120 will fall back into homelessness.
“To prevent homelessness, the Los Angeles region must reverse decades of housing shortages and affordable housing construction, help more people achieve economic stability, and address our shrinking social security net,” Adams Kellam said. “Our city and county partners are taking steps to make that happen, but it will take all communities across the region working together and collectively committing to proven solutions to truly turn things around.”
California is home to 30 percent of the nation’s homeless population. More than 171,000 people experience homelessness in the state on any given day, according to a University of California, San Francisco report released last year. Homeless people in California are more likely to struggle with high housing costs, mental health issues and addiction problems, according to the report.
According to Zillow, the median monthly rent in Los Angeles in June was $2,795, $650 higher than the national median.
LAHSA announced Friday that 54% of people in Los Angeles who have been homeless for less than a year say financial hardship is their primary reason.
“We have changed the trajectory of this crisis and set Los Angeles in a new direction,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement following the homeless count results. “This is not the end, it’s the beginning. We will build on this progress together.”
Bass will take office as Los Angeles mayor in December 2022 and have made homelessness in the city a focus of her administration, issuing an emergency declaration on homelessness and an executive order to accelerate affordable housing development in the city.
Her proposed budget for next fiscal year includes $950 million to combat homelessness, including $185 million for Inside Safe, a program that aims to end street camping by promoting long-term housing stability and mental health and substance abuse treatment for people experiencing homelessness.
Los Angeles’ homeless numbers were released the same day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the city could enforce its ban on homeless people sleeping outdoors.
“I do not support criminalizing homelessness,” Adams Kellam said. “This year’s homeless count results strongly support our best practice approach of working with all levels of government and service providers to save lives by eliminating encampments and getting people back indoors. We believe in housing and services, not arrests.”