Summary
The goal of this project is to provide point-in-time estimates of the homeless population in the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC) geographic area, which includes all of Los Angeles County except the cities of Pasadena, Glendale, and Long Beach. It fulfills the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-mandated Point-in-Time (PIT) Count to count, and estimates demographic characteristics of persons experiencing literal homelessness – unsheltered and sheltered – typically during a single night in January.
Publications
Methodology/Overview of Findings
Estimates of the homeless population are constructed from data obtained from a PIT Count of the unsheltered individuals and dwellings, a demographic survey of unsheltered adults, a youth count and survey of unsheltered youth, and administrative data from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) covering the sheltered population, augmented by reporting from shelters not represented in HMIS. While most of the data collection and estimation procedures remained unchanged from the 2022 Homeless Count (HC22), a change for HC23 was that PIT Counts were recorded by volunteers through a mobile app from a new technology partner, Esri, who has extensive experience executing Homeless Counts for multiple CoCs throughout the state. In addition, HUD approved the use of phone-based rather than in-person surveying for certain components of data collection including for the youth count and demographic survey. Estimates can be found on LAHSA’s website.