L.A. homeless count falls short, study finds

Annual survey misses rising number of people 'sleeping rough' without a car or tent — individuals who need more help, Rand says

- BY DOUG SMITH

UNDERCOUNTS could distort the distribution of local and federal funds.

(CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Times)

The annual survey that tracks homelessness in Los Angeles County has increasingly missed people in three key neighborhoods, falling short by nearly a third this year in Hollywood, Venice and Skid Row, a study by Rand found.

Rand's researchers, who canvass the three neighborhoods every two months, found that the shortfalls coincide with an increase in the percentage of people “sleeping rough,” without the protection of a vehicle or tent.

"This means that the places with the highest needs are becoming the very places where the county's official count is most underestimated," said the report, released Wednesday.

The shift to rough sleeping probably results, at least in part, from the success of city encampment reduction programs such as Inside Safe.

Since 2021, programs offering motel rooms to people living in tent encampments nearly halved the number of tents identified by Rand.

"However, as the initiatives drove a real decline in unsheltered homelessness, they also removed the easiest-to-count unsheltered subpopulation," likely contributing to the annual count's growing inaccuracy, the report said.

The failure to count those living in the harshest conditions could distort the distribution of local and federal funds that is geared to the point-in-time, or PIT, count, lead author Louis Abramson said.

CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Times UNDERCOUNTS could distort the distribution of local and federal funds.