More than 75,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County, California, marking an almost 10% increase in the unhoused population from 2022.
In a new annual point-in-time count released Thursday by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, it reported that 75,518 people in the county were either living in vehicles, tents, makeshift shelters, or provisional housing.
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Last year, there were 69,144 found to be living in such conditions, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Since the same count in 2015, the number has reportedly spiked 70% in the county and 80% in Los Angeles.
A spokesperson for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who is currently running for Senate in the state, pointed the Washington Examiner to a bill he introduced on Wednesday, the Housing Navigators Act.
According to a press release, the legislation would create a new program within the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Housing Counseling which would provide homeless people with counseling and opportunities for housing placement. It would further provide the department with $50 million more in funding for the program. States, local governments, and housing nonprofit groups could be eligible for some of this funding under the bill.
Neither Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass nor Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) responded to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Chief Executive Va Lecia Adams Kellum characterized the data as disappointing but also not a surprise.
“We thought with last year’s numbers that we were flattening the curve. However, what we see in this trajectory is that people remain in a situation of vulnerability where they’re falling into homelessness faster than we can house them,” she told reporters during a briefing.
“There’s much more needed to right the ship,” she added.
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Black homeless people made up a disproportionate 31% of the count, while Latinos accounted for about 43%. Further, a quarter of the county’s homeless people are suffering from mental illnesses, and an additional 30% reported having substance use disorders.
Other representatives whose districts make up part of the county did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
