The number of homeless people in Los Angeles County jumped by nearly 6 percent over the past year to 46,874, in part due to a “historic” housing shortage, authorities said on Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said in its report that the increase came about despite a reduction in the number of homeless veterans and homeless families.
Homelessness among veterans dropped by 30 percent across the county, while the number of homeless families fell by 18 percent, largely thanks to an increase in funding by the US federal government.
“Homelessness responds to resources,” authority executive director Peter Lynn said. “When we have systematically applied city, county and federal resources, we see results.”
According to the report, the number of homeless people in the city of Los Angeles jumped by 11 percent while other areas in the county saw larger increases.
The vast majority of the county’s homeless — 34,527 — are without shelter, the authority said, meaning that they are living in tents, shantytowns or vehicles.
“Despite our progress, Los Angeles is facing a historic housing shortage, a staggering mental health crisis and veterans are becoming homeless every day,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
“As a city, we have launched efforts to tackle these issues, securing record federal investments in supportive services for veteran families, producing a comprehensive homelessness strategy report and expanding a robust winter shelter program. This year, we are doubling down on our work,” he added.
Garcetti in September last year joined several other elected officials outside his office, blocks away from the city’s notorious Skid Row, to announce a plan to spend US$100 million to eradicate homelessness.
However, critics say that while such measures are welcome they fail to address the core issue of the loss of affordable housing.
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
A pro-Iran hacking group claimed to breach FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal e-mail inbox and posted some of the contents online. The e-mails provided by the hacking group include travel details, correspondence with leasing agents in Washington and global entry, and loyalty account numbers. The e-mail address the hackers claim to have compromised has been previously tied to Patel’s personal details, and the leaked e-mails contain photos of Patel and others, in addition to correspondence with family members and colleagues. “The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information,” the agency said in a statement on
RIVALRY: ‘We know that these are merely symbolic investigations initiated by China, which is in fact the world’s most profligate disrupter of supply chains,’ a US official said China has started a pair of investigations into US trade practices, retaliating against similar probes by US President Donald Trump’s administration as the superpowers stake out positions before an expected presidential summit in May. The move, announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Friday, is a direct mirror of steps Trump took to revive his tariff agenda after the US Supreme Court last month struck down some of his duties. “China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to these actions,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the so-called Section 301 investigations initiated on March 11.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
RSS