Community Support Needed for Annual Count, Taking Place January 21-23
Volunteer registration is now open for the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which will take place on the evenings of January 21, 22, and 23. Volunteers can sign up through the newly launched Homeless Count website, count.lahsa.org.
“Last year’s Homeless Count marked the first decrease in street homelessness that Los Angeles has seen in years,” said Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). “As we gear up for this year’s count, community support is crucial. We need thousands of volunteers to join us in counting our unhoused neighbors so we can better understand where they are, the services they need most, and what it will take to bring them home.”
The Homeless Count is conducted annually across Los Angeles County, covering 4,000 square miles. Volunteers, working in small groups, travel assigned census tracts to tally the number of unsheltered individuals, tents, vehicles, and makeshift shelters they encounter. The data gathered informs strategies to address homelessness and allocate resources effectively.
The 2025 Unsheltered Count will proceed as follows:
- Tuesday, January 21: San Fernando Valley and Metro Los Angeles
- Wednesday, January 22: San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles
- Thursday, January 23: Antelope Valley, West and South Los Angeles, and the South Bay/Harbor region
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development mandates a biennial point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness. However, since 2016, LAHSA has conducted the count annually to provide consistent data and a more comprehensive analysis. The Homeless Count consists of three elements: the Unsheltered Count (including the Youth Count), the Sheltered Count, and the Demographic Survey.
In 2024, the Homeless Count found decreases in homelessness at both the County and City levels. The Point-in-Time estimate for Los Angeles County dropped by 0.27% to 75,312, while the City of Los Angeles saw a 2.2% decrease to 45,252. Notably, the estimate for unsheltered homelessness in the City dropped by 10.4%, and Los Angeles County saw a 5.1% decrease. The 2024 Shelter Count also recorded a 12.7% increase in interim housing in the County and a 17.7% increase in the City.
LAHSA credits the decline in unsheltered homelessness to unprecedented coordination among government agencies and initiatives aimed at addressing the crisis. The Youth Count will be conducted from January 22 through 31, and the Housing Inventory Count will take place on January 22.
