The count determined that 57,794 people in LA County experience homelessness on a given night— a 23-percent increase from the 2016 total of 46,874.
However, the findings also reveal a 21-percent reduction in the total number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Long Beach and a 26-percent reduction in chronically homeless persons in the city. Compared to 2,345 homeless people in Long Beach in 2015, the total number this year has dropped to 1,863. The total number of chronically homeless individuals has decreased from 927 to 686.
The 2017 operation marks the fourth consecutive point-in-time count that indicates a reduction in homelessness in Long Beach.
In addition to determining the number of homeless people, the count, which is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also aims to determine their demographics, distribution across the county and location.
The count is conducted annually during the last 10 days of January. It accounts for both unsheltered and sheltered homeless people.
“Unsheltered” is defined as “an individual/family whose primary nighttime residence is a public/private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.”
“Sheltered” refers to “an individual/family living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide a temporary living arrangement.”
The City of Long Beach issued a press release Wednesday attributing the municipal decrease in homelessness to the expansion of permanent housing, innovative models of outreach and a well coordinated system of care.
“In the last two years, permanent housing resources have nearly doubled,” the press release states. “This increase is due to the following factors: new housing programs for chronic homeless and veteran populations, expansion of Rapid Rehousing, more homeless housing units, increased Continuum of Care-funded veteran housing, increased Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, increased set-aside Section 8 vouchers and the implementation of a $6-million surge grant of Supportive Services for Veteran’s Families. This increased housing availability has allowed for effective and timely transitions from homelessness to permanent housing.”
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said he is “incredibly proud” of staff and community partners who are working every day to house families and individuals experiencing homelessness.
“Our local efforts are producing real results,” Garcia said. “We have a lot more work to do, but the data shows we are making progress.”
City officials have noted that, despite the overall decrease in Long Beach, the count’s findings reveal a dispersion of homelessness across the city since 2013. Officials attribute the move of homeless persons from higher densities in specific neighborhoods to a more general dispersion across the city to various factors, including a revitalization of the downtown area, maintenance efforts along river corridors and wetland and greenspace restoration.
Officials say the population shift has led some to believe there is an overall increase in homelessness, when there are actually fewer homeless individuals.
“We are committed to challenging ourselves to refining our system, expanding partnerships within the community and continuing our collaborative regional efforts that further support local progress towards closing gaps within our system,” said Kelly Colopy, director of the city’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Over 400 community members assisted in the local count to ensure comprehensive coverage of the 52 square miles of Long Beach, officials said, adding that it was the largest number of volunteers ever recruited for the count and the most comprehensive canvassing of the city to date.
The street count— which was led by City staff, Continuum of Care partners and Long Beach police and fire departments— involved two components: the 47 map segments covering the 52 square miles of Long Beach; and the other service sites, which are non-residential locations where homeless people may be located on the day of the count. Those locations include places such as the coordinated entry hubs of the Multi-Service Center and Mental Health America (The Village), churches, food banks, recycling centers, medical clinics and transit malls.
The count process also piloted transitional-age youth special teams to roam citywide to known areas of youth congregation.
Regarding the overall increase in the county’s population, Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas issued a call to action Wednesday.
“We have business to do,” Ridley-Thomas said at a press conference organized by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. “No hand-wringing, no fretting, no ‘woe is me’— it’s just simply time to roll up our sleeves and do what we know needs to be done. You’ve got to be ready to fight to end homelessness in the County of Los Angeles.”
Ridley-Thomas said voters’ passage of Measure H in March and Proposition HHH has “afforded us an opportunity to do what we have never ever had the opportunity to do in this region, and that is to step forward with our imagination, our compassion, our resources, and confront the issue of homelessness in the County of Los Angeles.”
Measure H was a county sales-tax measure to fund homeless services and prevention.Approved by 69.34 percent of voters, it is a 1/4-cent sales tax expected to raise $355 million annually for services to homeless countywide. According to Ridley-Thomas, it creates an unprecedented funding stream expected to move 45,000 homeless people into stable housing within the next five years, and it provide them with the high-quality, multi-dimensional supportive services they need to succeed in the long run. Furthermore, it aims to prevent an estimated 30,000 individuals from becoming homeless.
Measure HHH was a homeless-services bond issue on the ballot for Los Angeles voters in November. Approved by 77.14 of voters, it is a $1.2-billion bond measure estimated to build 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing in the city of Los Angeles.
“I am not at all discouraged by this [Homeless Count],” Ridley-Thomas said. “Many of us sensed that there was an uptick, and these numbers validate that. The good news is that we have the capacity, for the first time, to stand up to it.”
The board chairman added that there is no longer an excuse to not fully address the homeless problem, adding that the County’s Homeless Initiative, city governments, nonprofit service providers and others engaged in the fight against homelessness are “digging in deep.”
“There’s an army out there, and we’re ready to do what we must do,” he said.
On June 13, the Board of Supervisors will hear the final report of a 50-member planning group that has developed funding recommendations for the first three years of Measure H revenue, which total about $1 billion.
Ridley-Thomas said implementing those recommendations will begin in earnest during the new fiscal year, which will begin July 1.
The core strategies include: sending outreach and engagement teams to reach the homeless on every street corner; providing permanent housing with health care and other services; expanding rapid rehousing for the newly homeless; enhancing the emergency shelter system, including for those leavings jails and hospitals; and strengthening the network of community nonprofit organizations already serving homeless single adults, families and youth.
“This planning effort has not been done in haste,” Chairman Ridley-Thomas said. “It is a reflection of years of work, principally by the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles with the input of thousands of stakeholders, to develop plans to deal with homelessness in a collaborative way.”
