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LOS ANGELES () — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing a setback in her efforts to reduce homelessness as the city’s latest homeless count is expected to show an increase.
The city’s official homeless count is scheduled to be released Friday, and homelessness in Los Angeles is expected to be up 3.4% from the previous count.
However, one source told Eyewitness News that the increase falls within the margin of error for the count.
Bass acknowledged the challenges in a statement and said she remains committed to addressing the crisis.
“For two years straight, we drove down homelessness by historic margins – but as expected, last year our efforts ultimately couldn’t keep up with policies and funding cuts at the federal and state levels that pushed more people onto the streets,” the statement read. “The Trump Administration has driven up the cost of gas, groceries, and rent – pushing more families to the edge – and slashed critical safety net funding. And, last year’s 50% cut in state HHAP funding from $1 billion to $500 million – resulting in a $70 million hit to L.A. city alone – severely impacted our work to keep people housed and get more Angelenos off the streets.
We raised philanthropic dollars to help supplement the cuts, and this year I fought alongside other mayors to reverse these cuts, restoring it to $900 million.
The lack of adequate services provided by L.A. County continues to be a real problem and a contributing factor to people cycling in and out of homelessness.
Despite these headwinds, we have reduced homelessness in Los Angeles by 11% since 2023 – placing tens of thousands of Angelenos in interim housing, moving 6,000 people off the streets through Inside Safe, and housing more than 1,000 homeless veterans.
We declared a homelessness state of emergency on day one, addressed 130 encampments, and helped keep 85,000 people in their homes through eviction defense. We’re doubling down on what works.
But we also have to be clear-eyed about what’s not working. For thirty years, this city has run its homeless response through LAHSA – and audits and the courts have now made plain what too many Angelenos already saw: the money wasn’t tracked, providers went unpaid, and public trust eroded. I’m not going to defend a broken system. The City must build something better – results-driven, transparent, and centered around the people we’re trying to help, not the bureaucracy.
This crisis was ignored by city leaders for decades, it’s only now that we’ve seen a historic decline. I will never stop fighting until we end street homelessness, because no Angeleno should be sleeping on the street.”
Los Angeles Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who’s running against Bass in the race for mayor, also released a statement, calling this year’s numbers “disappointing, but not surprising.”
“Leadership at City Hall has not shown the willingness to shift toward an approach that actually moves people into permanent housing. And these results make clear that the Mayor’s approach is not working well enough.
The results in my district tell a different story-a significant decrease in the number of people living on our streets. Those results came from sustained, hands-on work, and I am confident we can bring that approach-and those results-citywide.”
More detailed information about the count is expected when the full homelessness audit is released Friday.
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