L.A.’s annual homeless count relies on volunteers. This week, nearly 6,000 Angelenos helped count people experiencing homelessness throughout the region.
The count is a major undertaking that’s required across the country by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2022, local volunteers struggled with a glitchy phone app, leading to concerns about the L.A. count’s accuracy. Under a settlement reached last year in federal court, the city of L.A. must provide shelter for 60% of unhoused people.
The results of this year’s annual homeless count will test the progress toward that goal.
We joined volunteers on one night of this year’s homeless count. Here’s how the night unfolded.
10 p.m.: 150 volunteers gather
(Samanta Helou Hernandez
/
LAist)
It’s Wednesday, Jan. 25. About 150 volunteers gather at the Westwood Presbyterian Church, which has served as a volunteer deployment site since 2005. Because the church is less than a mile away from UCLA, volunteers are often local students.
As the volunteers line up to check in, they grab some coffee and a snack.
Volunteers gather at the Westwood…
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