The number of homeless people counted across Los Angeles County jumped 12 percent over the past year to nearly 59,000, with more young and old residents and families on the streets, officials said on Tuesday.
The majority of the homeless were found within the city of Los Angeles, which saw a 16 percent increase to 36,300, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said in presenting January’s annual count to the county’s Board of Supervisors.
The problem was apparent just outside the board meeting, where a man and a woman were camped out on a small patch of lawn.
Photo: Reuters
Tents regularly pop up on the pavement outside nearby Los Angeles City Hill and hundreds of people live in makeshift shanties that line entire blocks in the neighborhood known as Skid Row.
The county’s Homeless Services Authority said it helped 21,631 people move into permanent housing last year — a pace that would have helped rapidly end homelessness if economic pressures had not simultaneously pushed thousands more out of their homes.
“People are being housed out of homelessness and falling into homelessness on a continuous basis,” Homeless Services Executive Director Peter Lynn said.
About a quarter of those counted became homeless for the first time last year, and about half of those cited economic hardship as the primary cause, the authority said.
To reduce homelessness, communities must overcome resistance to the placement of housing and shelters, officials said.
Three years ago, Los Angeles voters approved a tax hike and US$1.2 billion housing bond to make a decade’s worth of massive investments to help solve the homeless crisis.
That money has been committed to build more than half of the 10,000 new housing units planned countywide, Lynn said.
About three-quarters of the homeless people counted were living outdoors, fueling concerns of a growing public health crisis with piles of garbage and rats near homeless encampments.
The Los Angeles County figures mirror tallies across California, as state officials struggle to address a lack of affordable housing.
Some state lawmakers on Tuesday called for legislation capping rent increases on some tenants and encouraging the construction of more affordable housing, but tenant legislation faces persistent opposition from landlords and other major housing bills have already sputtered this legislative session.
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