After having been delayed by the recent wildfire disaster, the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count is set to take place on Thursday, February 20.
The Homeless Count is a countywide census-of-sorts that relies on thousands of volunteers over a three day period to visually count the number of people experiencing homelessness through approximately 150 Deployment Sites covering the majority of Los Angeles County. The count is at night, generally starting after 8pm, to allow most of the unhoused population to settle down for the night.
Last year, according to the Los Angeles County Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), Santa Monica’s homeless count was down by 6% from 2023, which, when the numbers are actually translated, equated to 52 people.
Results for the 2023 count showed that homelessness increased by about 9% countywide and by 45% in the local area from the preceding 12 months.
“We have to try to capture in a moment in time the amount of unhoused folks that are sleeping on our streets in Santa Monica. Although not perfect, or the only tool that can be used, it is one that gives us an idea of the current situation,” Mayor Lana Negrete told the Daily Press.
“Obviously, with the help of organizations and professionals it is also dependent upon volunteers and human beings. Again, not a perfect system, but one tool that I feel is part of a set of tools to try to give us a better understanding of how many people are sleeping on our streets at night,” Negrete said.
There are four separate components to producing a point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness as required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, one of which is the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count event, or the Street Count.
• The Street Count is a visual-only tally of everyone without shelter. Approximately 150 Deployment Sites coordinate across LA County over three nights, from which thousands of volunteers travel in teams to count unsheltered neighbors.
• The Youth Count is a survey-based count of unaccompanied and unsheltered youth and young families under the age of 25. Service providers and volunteers are enlisted to survey unsheltered youth in their communities.
• LAHSA contracts a survey team at USC to conduct the Demographic Survey, a survey-based collection of demographic information within a sampled survey of those experiencing homelessness.
• LAHSA conducts the annual Housing Inventory Count to produce the PIT Shelter Count, a one-night count of everyone experiencing homelessness found in shelters and transitional housing.
Anyone wishing to take part should follow the link to register, which can be found at count.lahsa.org. The count for the City of Santa Monica will start at the St. Monica Catholic Church on 725 California Avenue on Thursday, February 20 at 8:30pm. Typically, the results are made available in approximately three months.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
