The Brief

Los Angeles County’s unhoused population declined slightly for the second year in a row, according to authorities responsible for the region’s annual point-in-time homeless count.

Results of the 2025 event, released Monday, show homelessness dropped by 3.4% in the city of L.A. and by 4% countywide, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA. That includes the number of people in shelters and those sleeping outdoors.

Last year, LAHSA reported smaller declines over the previous year in both the city and county — 2.2% and less than 1% (.27%), respectively.

Prior to that, the numbers had been trending upward since 2018.

LAHSA said several factors contributed to the reductions, including the clearing of encampments throughout the region, and nearly 28,000 people being placed into permanent housing last year — a record high.

Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a press conference before LAHSA's annual homeless count at El Rio Community School on Feb. 18, 2025 in Los Angeles.

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“These results aren’t just data points — they represent thousands of human beings who are now inside, and neighborhoods that are beginning to heal,” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “This Point in Time Count makes one thing clear: change is possible when we refuse to accept encampments as normal and refuse to leave people behind.”

Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of LAHSA, said during a news conference Monday that the lower numbers of unsheltered unhoused people are a direct result of the city and county’s work with clearing encampments.

“ Over the last two years, our leaders came together to bring people inside, and their efforts have paid off,” she said.

" We've made real progress toward ending homelessness, and we cannot let that momentum falter now," she continued. "The dear people on our streets are relying on us, and we must continue to focus on bringing them inside."

Elected officials react 

Most city and county officials are cautiously optimistic about L.A.’s homeless count data, but they say the numbers of people experiencing homelessness are unacceptably high.

“Nobody should see these results and think our job is done,” said L.A. City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky. “We’re still in a crisis, but for the first time in a long time, we’re seeing the tide start to turn. We’ve learned a lot over the past few years about what it takes to resolve encampments and get people housed for good."

“This proves that when we focus resources on the things that work, we get results,” she continued. “Now we need to double down and do it faster.”

L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the region needs to make more investments toward solving the crisis.

"At this pace, it would take three centuries to end homelessness in Los Angeles County,” she told LAist in a statement.

L.A. City Council members noted there were some doubts about the accuracy of the data. A recent report by the RAND Corporation suggested LAHSA had systemically undercounted homelessness in some parts of the city during last year’s count in January 2024. Last month, LAist reported that LAHSA removed more volunteer observations when reconciling data in 2024 than they had in previous years.

L.A. Councilmember John Lee, who represents the Northwest San Fernando Valley, told LAist there are questions about how the homeless count numbers are validated and ultimately reported.

“When there’s this much at stake, accuracy matters and we can’t afford to make decisions based on data that may not reflect what’s actually happening on the ground,” he said in a statement. “Until we have a more reliable and consistent system of reporting, it’s difficult to fully trust that the numbers we’re seeing are telling the whole story.”

LAHSA and city leaders say the data may not always reflect the reality of every block or every street, but it remains a useful estimate of homelessness throughout the region. And that estimate is trending downward.

L.A. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said the city’s efforts are working.

“I find it interesting that the folks who question the numbers this year did not have the same energy when the numbers were trending upwards, no one interrogated that data,” Harris-Dawson said in a statement. “Detractors root for failure.”

Councilmember Nithya Raman, chair of the city’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, told LAist the results reflect the reality she’s seen experienced in her district, which includes parts of Silver Lake and the San Fernando Valley.

“ The reality is that the count — if it is imperfect — is imperfect in the same way each year, and it is really meant to be a tracker of our progress over time,” Raman said.

She continued:  “I'm really encouraged by the progress that we're making after years of increases, sometimes double digit increases.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass at a news conference from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Welcome Navigation Center.

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Reaction from nonprofit leaders

Officials within the organizations that support unhoused Angelenos were pleased with the numbers but acknowledged the challenges ahead, particularly the loss of federal money that pays for housing vouchers and other services.

Peter Laugharn, president of the nonprofit Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, said systemic problems are still forcing people onto the streets.

“ Unaffordable housing is still a leading cause of first-time homelessness, and decades of economic and racial inequities continue to shape who is the most vulnerable,” he said.

Katie Hill, CEO of Union Station Homeless Services, said was concerned that the end of COVID-era federal programs, like emergency housing vouchers, would make her organization’s work more difficult.

“ The resources that made [the decline in homelessness] possible are drying up or being reduced and, in the next couple of years, we will see it's not going to be the same trend,” she told LAist. “ We need to prepare ourselves as a region, as a community to have to pick up the pieces and expect that there will be more homelessness.”

Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president of LA Family Housing, agreed.

“ Without that type of investment, as we saw in ‘25 and in ‘24, I fear that we're going to shift from this positive trend in the years ahead,” she told LAist.

More on the results 

In February, LAHSA and its volunteers counted more than 43,500 unhoused people in the city of L.A. and more than 72,000 in the county during this year’s annual tally. Those totals include people in shelters and on the streets.

The vast majority of unhoused people in the city of L.A. are living on the street rather than in homeless shelters.

For the second year in a row, that population decreased substantially. It fell by 7.9% this year, LAHSA said, and by 17.5% over the past two years. (There were 26,972 unsheltered people living in the city in February, down from 32,680 two years ago.)

Meanwhile, the number of people in the city of L.A. living in “interim housing,” or shelter, increased 4.7%. This year, LAHSA counted 16,727 people in the city of L.A. living in shelters, motel rooms and tiny homes. That’s up from 15,977 last year.

This year, the count showed fewer people living in tents and other makeshift shelters in the city of L.A. There were 13.5% fewer vehicles and tents used as shelter compared to the previous year.

The agency credits efforts like the city’s Inside Safe and county’s Pathway Home programs for moving people off of the streets. Both programs clear encampments and offer people temporary shelter with a path to possible permanent housing.

More permanent housing became available last year, LAHSA said. There were about 2,960 new apartments provided in 2024. But that was far short of an estimated 485,000 affordable homes needed.

Why the count is important

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, requires local governments to conduct a full census of the region’s unhoused population every other year.

L.A. County has been doing a count annually since 2015, except in 2021 when it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

LAHSA’s annual count is the largest of its kind in the country and involves coordinating thousands of volunteers who go out in groups over three nights to tally people and dwellings in more than 3,000 census subtracts.

The annual point-in-time count is typically held in late January, but this year’s count was postponed a month because of the wildfires, which were still burning in the Palisades and Altadena at the time.

LAHSA officials said they made that decision to avoid jeopardizing the safety of volunteers or the accuracy of the count, as many people were displaced from their homes or normal routines. Several wildfire-impacted areas were counted by special teams of LAHSA employees, rather than volunteers.

The delay helped depress volunteer turnout this year, LAHSA and public officials said. About 10% fewer people signed up compared with last year’s count. Some who registered this year did not show up after LAHSA moved the count back by a few weeks.

But officials at the agency said they do not believe the disaster affected the quality of the data.

This was the first year 100% of the data from the count was entered digitally, through the Esri app, and signed off by the people doing the counting, according to LAHSA. Last year, problems with the app and shifting policies for reconciling data collected through the app and data collected on paper forms led to questions about accuracy.

LAHSA representatives said the methodology for gathering the date hasn’t changed, but the tools have. Authorities said the agency is committed to producing the most accurate homeless count possible.

For the first time, LAHSA released preliminary raw data for this year’s homeless count in March, much earlier than in previous counts. The move came a week before the L.A. County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to vote on whether to pull funding from the regional agency.

LAHSA spokesperson Paul Rubenstein told the agency’s commissioners in April that it was important for stakeholders to have the early data “as they were considering significant shifts to the system.”

“Last year was not a statistical anomaly,” Rubenstein said. “The path we were on was getting us where we wanted to go.”

Adams Kellum celebrated the early results at the time.

“When I first came to LAHSA, I publicly stated that we wanted to reduce unsheltered homelessness within three years.

“We’ve done it in two.”

Criticism of LAHSA

Federal Judge David O. Carter, who is currently overseeing a major legal settlement on homelessness, said he saw the release of unverified numbers from the count as “political gamesmanship.”

“My view is that they're in a political battle for their lives right now,” Carter said.

Times have been tough for LAHSA in recent years. The agency faced fierce criticism after a county audit last year and a March report commissioned by Carter, both of which found the agency had failed to properly track spending and hold vendors accountable.

Those findings prompted the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to vote in April to shift hundreds of millions in taxpayer funding for homeless services away from LAHSA and create a new county homelessness department to eventually administer the funds itself.

The city is weighing a similar move.

Days after the county pulled out of LAHSA, Adams Kellum announced her resignation as CEO. Adams Kellum, a Bass ally, has led the organization since 2023.

Even though LAHSA’s role is being reduced, the agency remains tasked with overseeing the annual homeless count. However, Adams Kellum told the agency’s commissioners last month LAHSA may not have enough funding to do a proper count next year, because of city of L.A. budget cuts and the recent county funding decision.

“We anticipate that the current allocations will not provide enough funding for LAHSA to conduct an unsheltered count in 2026,” she said.

Tommy John, who won 288 games during a 26-year big league career and became the first pitcher to successfully return following groundbreaking elbow surgery that later was named after him, has died. He was 83.

He died at his home in Bradenton, Florida, on Saturday night, agent Mike Maguire said Sunday. He had been in hospice care.

On Aug. 8, the New York Yankees released a social media post in which John wrote that he wanted to say goodbye to everyone, including friends and fans who followed him throughout his career, saying, “I will never forget you.”

John was a four-time All-Star with a record of 288-231 and a 3.34 ERA during a career that stretched from 1963 to 1989. He pitched for Cleveland, the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the California Angels and the Oakland Athletics.

The left-hander was 31 years old when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow in 1974, a death knell for pitchers’ careers to that point.

John allowed Dr. Frank Jobe, the Dodgers’ team physician, to replace the ligament with a tendon from his right forearm. Jobe gave the surgery 100-to-1 odds of being successful.

John was a great pitcher, but his elbow surgery made him a baseball legend

The procedure had been done on others before, although it was usually performed on wrists and hands. John was the first pitcher to have it done on his elbow.

More than 2,600 big leaguers and thousands more amateurs have since had UCL reconstructions, better known as Tommy John surgery. It’s been a godsend for many of baseball’s greatest stars, including two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and even Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper.

“If you put it in dollars and cents, I think there’s no question that Tommy John is the most valuable reconstructive procedure there is,” Dodgers team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache told The Associated Press in 2024.

Born Thomas Edward John Jr. on May 22, 1943, in Terre Haute, Indiana, he was a top baseball and basketball player at the city’s Gerstmeyer High. He graduated in 1961 as valedictorian but did not give the commencement speech because of a stutter. Despite being recruited by the University of Kentucky to play basketball, John chose baseball and signed with Cleveland.

“The day I left for my first job as a pitcher, my father looked at me & said, ‘Good luck, Tommy. Just remember one thing: whether you make it big in the big leagues or you don’t, you’ll always just be Tommy John from Terre Haute, Indiana.’ I’ve never forgotten those words,” John wrote in his Aug. 8 post.

John recorded 2,245 strikeouts but never led either league in wins or strikeouts. John had the second-most wins of any pitcher since 1900 not to be elected to the Hall of Fame. From 1995 through 2009, John was on the Hall of Fame ballot, but he never received more than 31.7% of the votes, falling well short of the 75% required for election.

John won more games after his eponymous surgery

Known for his longevity, John was the opening day starter for both the 1966 Chicago White Sox and the 1989 New York Yankees. He won 124 games before his UCL repair and 164 after. His final appearance came days after his 46th birthday.

He made his major league debut on Sept. 6, 1963, pitching one inning in relief for Cleveland.

He was traded to the White Sox in 1965 and worked his way into the starting rotation. The following year, he tied for the American League lead with five shutouts and in 1967, his six shutouts led the AL.

In 1971, he was traded to the Dodgers.

In 1974, John had a 13-3 record and led the National League in victories going into the All-Star break. He was pitching against the Montreal Expos when he permanently damaged the UCL in his left arm. After a month, the injury had not improved.

During the four-hour surgery on Sept. 25, 1974, Jobe made holes in the humerus and ulna bones of John’s left arm and used anchors to insert the tendon in a figure-eight pattern.

At first, John’s left hand was shriveled and he lacked feeling in several of his fingers because of damage to the ulnar nerve. Jobe performed a second procedure to reroute the nerve that was necessary to John’s full recovery.

John’s arm was in a cast for four months. He had recovered the full range of motion in his left arm by spring training of 1975, and spent that season resting, healing and rebuilding strength in his arm. John worked with fellow Dodgers pitcher Mike Marshall, who had a doctorate in kinesiology, on learning a different grip.

That September he made five appearances during an offseason instructional league, working his way up to seven innings by his final game.

John resumed pitching for the Dodgers in 1976 as the fourth starter in their rotation. He allowed three runs in five innings and took the loss in his first start against Atlanta, the first time any pitcher had started a game following UCL reconstructive surgery.

John donated the original cast from his surgery to the Smithsonian Institution in June 2022. His teammates on the 1974 Dodgers signed it, as well as Jobe and the team’s Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully.

The procedure has become so widely known that in 2019, Merriam-Webster added the term to its dictionary.

John made 31 starts for the Dodgers in 1976, posting a 10-10 record, a 3.09 ERA, 91 strikeouts, 61 walks and 207 hits allowed in 207 innings.

In 1977, he won 20 games for the first time in his career, finishing with a 20-7 record. He finished second behind Philadelphia’s Steve Carlton in voting for the NL Cy Young Award.

John and his family had mixed feelings about the legacy of his operation

Over 50 years later, Tommy John surgery is as much a part of baseball as peanuts and hot dogs. Advanced training methods are helping pitchers of all ages throw harder than ever. They take comfort knowing a torn UCL won’t necessarily end their careers.

“I am sick my name is attached to a surgery happening in kids more than pros,” John tweeted in July 2018.

John’s oldest son, Tommy III, became a chiropractor who wrote a book suggesting ways to prevent young athletes from having to undergo major sports-related surgery similar to what his father endured.

After his pitching career ended, John worked as a broadcaster for the Minnesota Twins and Yankees in the 1990s. He managed the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Bluefish from 2007-09.

John was hospitalized in December 2020 due to COVID-19 and later had Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which a person’s immune system attacks their nerves. John told the New York Post in May 2022 that he was paralyzed in his lower extremities for several months.

John and his wife Sally Simmons had four children: Tamara, Tommy III, Travis and Taylor, who died of a prescription drug overdose at 28 in 2010. The couple divorced in 2013.

Besides his children, he is survived by his second wife, Cheryl, and son-in-law Patrick Mannelly, a retired NFL long snapper who played 16 years for the Chicago Bears.

School is around the corner for nearly every campus in Long Beach. That means it’s time to dust off those backpacks and take stock of what school supplies are needed. For anyone in need of a cost-free way to restock children for school, here’s a list of giveaway events coming up soon.

Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 953 North Park Circle Dr.

This Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m., Willmore City Community Association will hand out 200 free backpacks, pairs of shoes, books and insulated water bottles at The Bembridge House at Drake Park.

The event will also have free children’s haircuts, ice cream from Handel’s Ice Cream and sweet treats by The Pin-Up Kitchen.

Event organizers encourage all family members to come out to get connected with resources, learn about community services and enjoy live music along with activities for all ages.

Saturday, Aug. 22 at 2217 E. Sixth St.

Free backpacks, free school supplies and free snacks will be available at Long Beach Forward’s office on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There will also be free children’s haircuts and hair styling available, plus gift cards given out as raffle prizes.

The backpacks are for children ages 4-13 (TK-7th grade). You can find more information about the event here.

Saturday, Aug. 22 at 1321 East Anaheim St.

Tito Rodriguez, better known as Hood Santa, will host a backpack and school-supply giveaway on Saturday, Aug. 22 at MacArthur Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There will also be free toys and Bombas socks, along with free children’s haircuts and makeup services.

Ortiz is aiming to give out 3,000 backpacks at the event. As of Thursday afternoon, he had raised $2,750 toward his $25,000 goal. You can donate to the campaign here.

He’s also accepting volunteers for the event. You can sign up to volunteer here.

Saturday, Aug. 22 at 1022 E. Market St.

The fifth annual Black Student Achievement Initiative Symposium will feature a backpack giveaway, complimentary lunch and information breakout sessions on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Lindbergh Middle School in North Long Beach.

Incoming Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent David Zaid is scheduled to attend as a guest speaker.

A shuttle service will be available from Jordan High School (6500 Atlantic Ave.) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Registration will take place from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., but anyone planning to attend is encouraged to register ahead of time here.

Lunch will only be provided for attendees who register in advance.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Life’s all about taking risks, and sometimes a single bold choice can change everything. Just ask Miriam Yoo. Eight years ago, she traded her successful career as an entertainment lawyer to pursue her entrepreneurial dream and launch Flask & Field, a wine and spirits shop.

Since then, she’s never looked back. “It’s all of the things that a job could be and so many things that I could never have expected to experience,” Yoo told The LA Local.

Nearly a decade later, Flask & Field has become a downtown L.A. go-to destination for wine hangs, the point of the day where Yoo and her staff offer complimentary pours during select hours.

The wine hangs

At Flask & Field, visitors are instantly transported into Yoo’s dreamscape of spirits, wines and nonalcoholic bottles with custom-made tags that are ever so thoughtfully detailed and creatively amusing. At every corner, you’ll find a selection of gifts like artisanal chocolates, specialty teas and mixology tools, as well as quirky finds like a pickle wine stopper or an olive hair clip.

For customers looking to shop and unwind late in the day, Yoo and her staff uncork two or three new bottles from Thursday to Friday between 4 and 6 p.m. She calls these “natural wine happy hours,” where they talk about the wines, share opinions and offer samples while chatting with customers.

Customers browse the wine and spirits selection at Flask & Field in downtown L.A.

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On Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., the tasting events are more structured. Brand representatives and winemakers are there to answer customers’ questions about their products.

“It gives our partners a chance to sort of communicate directly with our customers, introduce themselves, tell them about their brand and their business,” Yoo said.

Best of all, tastings are free and include discounts on featured wines.

Ultimately, Yoo’s goal was not just to open a wine and spirits shop but to create a space for people to hang out, chat and feel a little bit of a respite.

“It’s super rewarding,” Yoo said, “because ultimately, you’re selling things that help people enjoy their lives or gather with their friends and family.”

How the dream became real

Yoo worked as an entertainment lawyer for nine years while she fantasized about opening a place like Flask & Field.

Yoo would picture herself in an adorable, rom-com-type scenario: a solo shopkeeper in a perfectly curated wine shop, greeting regulars with a smile and savoring whimsical moments.

Japanese teas, incense and Flask & Field tote bags for sale inside the downtown L.A. shop.

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In 2018, Yoo’s dream of opening her own brick-and-mortar shop had finally become a reality, but it wasn’t a rom-com. It was actually a lot of hard work, she said. She had to struggle to stay afloat especially during the early days of the pandemic. But that rough time forced her to constantly evolve.

During the shutdown, for example, Yoo and her team pivoted to having an online storefront; sales skyrocketed. In-person foot traffic halted, but they found a way to meet new and regular customers by setting up a small, COVID-safe booth, so there was still a shopping presence for those visiting Flask & Field.

Chasing the next bottle

That spirit of constant evolution is still part of the way Yoo does business. To keep up with the latest in craft beers, mezcals, soju, whiskey, wines and more, Yoo and her team set up meetings with buyers to collaborate, organize weekly tastings and forge relationships with small businesses.

They regularly use Instagram to post about alcoholic drinks and non-spirits, as well as flyers. Currently, they are creating social media videos where they show off new bottles, give insight into where they come from and share their honest reviews.

“Knowledge is the currency. We want to just know everything that’s out there and how it’s tasting this season,” Yoo said.

Cookbooks, candy and puzzles sit alongside wine bottles at Flask & Field’s gift shop in downtown L.A.

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Part of that currency is getting to know their customers, especially their views on certain brands.

“Something that we noticed was that the younger generation, in general, cares more about farming practices, labor practices and price point. That’s also very important,” she said.

In 2021, Yoo saw growing interest in alcohol-free beers and wines, as more people traded hangovers for deliciously vibrant zero-proof crafted beverages as a healthy alternative. As demand grew, Yoo embraced innovation and expanded her selection to include botanical spirits and de-alcoholized wines.

“The brands have done such a good job being creative, and the products now are so much better than they were in 2021,” Yoo said.

Hantavirus. Ebola. West Nile. Measles. And, of course, cyclospora — that stomach parasite making people miserable across the country. Americans have plenty to worry about this summer.

But remember COVID-19? It may not be surprising that many people may have almost forgotten about COVID. Unfortunately, COVID hasn't forgotten about us.

"We're now in the midst of a growing summer surge of COVID here in the United States," says Dr. John Brooks, an infectious disease doctor at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., who used to work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "I think most of us kind of feel like it's fading away and are certainly very grateful for that. But nationally we're seeing it ticking up pretty much everywhere."

The virus is spreading the most again in the South and West, but is also on the rise in the Northeast and Midwest. The good news is the virus is still at very low levels. And so far this summer's wave seems to be continuing the trend of getting milder each year, sending fewer people to the hospital and causing fewer deaths.

"What we're seeing is very likely evidence of growing herd immunity, if you will," Brooks says. "More and more people have had one or more infections that give them some immunity against the virus and have had more than one vaccination, or maybe both. And all of that really has begun to offer us a lot of protection."

Now, that doesn't mean people don't have to worry about COVID at all anymore. The disease still makes lots of people feel awful for a week or two, foiling their summer vacations and forcing them to miss work and school.

And COVID can still cause serious disease for some people, sending them to emergency rooms, causing hospitalizations and even sometimes still causing death.

"COVID-19 is still dangerous, particularly for older adults, infants and people who are immunocompromised," says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. And that is a lot of Americans. "In a typical office, if you have 20 colleagues, it's likely that one or two of them have some degree of immunocompromise. So it's very common that people have risk factors that make COVID-19 dangerous."

Unlike the flu, which only surges during the winter each year, COVID sees spikes twice a year — both in the summer and winter. The reason for that remains unclear.

"It's a big mystery as far as I'm concerned. It is the only seasonal respiratory virus that has a summer season," River says. "To my knowledge, we don't know what is causing this seasonality."

Rivers says she still masks up when she's in crowded places like busy airports, and recommends that people stay up to date on their vaccines. The next shots look like a good match for the dominant strain of COVID that's circulating and should start becoming available soon.

Unlike previous years, the CDC hasn't issued updated recommendations for the vaccines because of litigation over the Trump administration's efforts to overhaul immunizations in the U.S. The administration no longer recommends that everyone aged 6 months and older routinely get an annual shot.

But major medical groups still do recommend it. And insurers have indicated they will keep covering vaccines. The shots are likely to remain available for free through government programs like the Vaccines for Children program.

Public health experts worry that conflicting messages will cause confusion, discouraging people from getting another shot.

"The message is that COVID vaccine and flu vaccine will be available, they're covered by insurers, they're recommended by medical societies. People should get them and get them for their kids," says Clare Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, which advocates for immunization programs.

There's also even a new drug, called Xocova, that people can take right after they've been exposed to the virus to cut their chances of actually getting sick from COVID.

"It is something for people to just have in the back of their mind," Brooks says. It is expected to be a useful tool in hospitals and nursing homes when exposures happen to vulnerable people.
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