Makenna Sievertson
breaks down policies and programs with a focus on the housing and homelessness challenges confronting some of SoCal's most vulnerable residents.
Published January 20, 2026 5:00 AM
Trash piles up a few yards from a homeless encampment downtown last year.
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Allen J. Schaben
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Thousands of volunteers will be fanning out across Los Angeles County this week to survey unhoused people, an annual event that determines how millions in funding is directed across the region.
Why it matters: The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which leads the count, says the data volunteers collect is essential for understanding homelessness in the region and for sending resources where they're needed most.
Why now: The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which starts Tuesday, is the largest of its kind in the country, according to officials, with volunteers covering more than 4,000 square miles in three days.
The backstory: When last year's count showed a drop in homelessness for a second year in a row, many officials celebrated the region’s progress in getting people off the street and bucking the trend of years of increases. But it’s unclear if that trend will continue.
Read on ... for more on this year's count.
Thousands of volunteers will fan out across Los Angeles County this week to survey unhoused people, an annual event that determines how millions in funding is directed across the region.
The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which starts Tuesday, is the largest of its kind in the country, according to officials, with volunteers covering more than 4,000 square miles in three days. Small groups in assigned areas will tally the number of people, tents, shelters and vehicles they see on the streets.
Typically, the results are released in the spring or early summer.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which leads the count, says the data volunteers collect is essential for understanding homelessness in the region and for sending resources where they're needed most.
When last year's count showed a drop in homelessness for a second year in a row, many officials celebrated the region’s progress in getting people off the street and bucking the trend of years of increases.
Gita O’Neill, LAHSA’s interim CEO, said Tuesday there's a "very real possibility" the numbers will show an increase in homelessness.
"So, to be clear, all is not going to get better," O’Neill said at a news conference. "When proven solutions lose funding, homelessness doesn't stay flat, it may rise."
How it works
The annual point-in-time count is conducted each year at the end of January, as required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Last year was an exception. It was moved to February because of the fires in L.A.
The 2025 count showed homelessness dropped by 3.4% in the city of L.A. and by 4% countywide, including the number of people in shelters and sleeping outdoors.
LAHSA said several factors contributed to those changes, including the clearing of encampments and nearly 28,000 people being placed into permanent housing last year — a record high.
"In 2022 and 2023, at least in the areas where we count, the [Point-in-Time count] was, as far as I can tell, excellent,” Louis Abramson, lead author of the RAND report, said previously. “I don't know what has happened afterwards."
On Tuesday, the count will start in the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and Metro L.A. area, including downtown and Skid Row. On Wednesday, volunteers will turn their attention to East L.A. and the San Gabriel Valley.
The count is expected to wrap up Thursday in the Antelope Valley, West L.A., South L.A., South Bay and Harbor region.
The 2026 homeless count dates and map.
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Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
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count.lahsa.org
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Teams typically head out after 8 p.m., when people experiencing homelessness are more likely to have settled down for the night, especially those living in cars or RVs.
But some are done during the day because of visibility or safety concerns, according to LAHSA. The Antelope Valley and parts of West L.A. will be counted Thursday morning like last year while the rest are counted at night.
Areas that may be heard to reach, including river embankments, parks or deserts, are assigned to special teams of outreach workers, according to LAHSA.
The count is conducted visually, meaning volunteers are supposed to tally only what they see in front of them. For example, if a volunteer does not see anyone but hears voices coming from a makeshift shelter, they’re instructed to count the shelter instead of the voices.
Marina Flores, left, and Helde Pereira document homeless sightings during LAHSA's annual count last year.
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Carlin Stiehl
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LAist
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A Shelter Count and Housing Inventory Count will also be held Wednesday. The Housing Inventory Count is a point-in-time tally of projects or sites that provide beds and units for the unhoused or formerly unhoused community.
The Youth Count, an estimate of the county’s unsheltered youth population, is conducted throughout the month with service organizations. It’s a survey-based tally where young people are asked about their housing status, rather than a visual count.
A separate demographic survey is also being done by the University of Southern California to gather details like age, gender, race and veteran status, among others. The survey started last month and runs through March, according to LAHSA.
This will be the first count conducted since Measure A went into effect last spring.
The new voter-approved half-cent sales tax is expected to generate about $1 billion annually for homeless services and affordable housing in L.A. County. The specific funding formula that determines which all 88 cities get what is based mostly on each city’s homeless count results from the past two years.
LAHSA said it has made several improvements for this year’s count, including simplified volunteer training and better maps created in partnership with people in the community.
The agency will be working with additional outreach staff from the L.A. County Department of Health Services and L.A. County Emergency Centralized Response Center to boost counting efforts in hard-to-reach areas that are too dangerous or inaccessible for volunteers, according to officials.
LAHSA is again using an app made by Esri, a software company based in Redlands, to collect volunteer data for a fourth year.
Helde Pereira documents sites of homeless encampments during LAHSA's annual homeless count last year.
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Carlin Stiehl
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LAist
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Technology problems have popped up with the app before. Volunteers from the 2024 count told LAist previously that data entry errors were common, and several said they had to wait hours to start counting when they had trouble logging in.
Teams from Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s office regularly volunteer for the count.
Representatives from that office told LAist recently that the council member has been vocal about his concerns over logistics, specifically glitches with the app over the years. Blumenfield’s team usually does a paper count in addition to using the app in case there are any discrepancies, his office said in an email.
LAHSA said more of its staff will be assigned as technical support at deployment sites this year.
Ahmad Chapman, LAHSA’s director of communications, told LAist the agency has also made several changes to the Housing Inventory count to improve data collection and make it easier to validate responses.
At the time, Chapman told LAist the revisions were made because the agency discovered that its new housing inventory system had incorrectly tagged several hundred interim housing units as being within the city of L.A. The agency said it fixed the problem in July.
This time around, Chapman said, LAHSA held live training sessions for providers on how to submit data, revamped forms so information is provided by site location instead of by project and added ways to let LAHSA staff look at submissions in “near real-time.”
Volunteers at the 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count go over a map of Westwood before heading out.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Volunteers
LAHSA says it hopes to have about 4,200 volunteers help complete the count from roughly 150 deployment sites, which are like base camps for each neighborhood.
L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, chair of the Board of Supervisors, said volunteer participation is essential for capturing a complete picture of homelessness.
“These counts help us see where progress is being made, where additional resources are needed, and how we can better serve our most vulnerable residents,” Solis said in a statement.
Multiple L.A. councilmembers and their staffers are volunteering in their districts this week, including Blumenfield in Reseda, Eunisses Hernandez in Highland Park and Hugo Soto-Martínez in Rampart Village, their offices confirmed to LAist.
About 4,000 volunteers registered as of Monday, which was up from 2,200 volunteers the week before. Some deployment sites, including Westwood and Avocado Heights, had more vacancies than volunteers, according to LAHSA’s live tracker.
O’Neill said in a statement ahead of the count that LAHSA was still looking for more sign-ups, especially in East L.A., the South Bay and the San Gabriel Valley. All ages can register, but volunteers under 18 must be with an adult at all times. You can learn more here.
Amber Sheikh, chair of the LAHSA Commission, said all Angelenos can and should be part of the solution by participating in the count.
"I believe that actually our largest untapped resource is housed individuals who care deeply," Sheikh said at a news conference Tuesday.
The agency usually sees the largest surge in registration the week leading up to the count, according to Chapman. He also said any areas not counted the next three nights will be considered a “make-up” and tallied shortly after as part of the agency’s data quality assurance process.
Robert Garrova
explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.
Published March 2, 2026 1:21 PM
The Getty collection of 19 manuscripts written on scrolls of papyrus and linen fragments are fragile
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Courtesy of Getty Museum
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Topline:
This week the Getty Villa Museum will begin offering a rare look at scrolls from its ancient Egyptian “Book of the Dead” collection.
The backstory: The collection of 19 manuscripts written on scrolls of papyrus and linen fragments are fragile, with one of them dating back nearly 3,500 years. Because of that, the materials are not usually on display to the public and the gallery will be carefully lit, temperature and humidity-controlled.
The materials: The exhibition will feature four papyri belonging to women named Webennesre, Ankhesenaset, and Aset. “Book of the Dead” materials belonging to women are rare, because most were reserved for men.
This week the Getty Villa Museum will begin offering a rare look at scrolls from its ancient Egyptian “Book of the Dead” collection.
The collection of 19 manuscripts written on scrolls of papyrus and linen fragments are fragile, with one of them dating back nearly 3,500 years. Because of that, the materials are not usually on display to the public and the gallery will be carefully lit, temperature and humidity-controlled.
Sara Cole, associate curator of antiquities, told LAist that a lot of the language in the spells is written in first person speech for the deceased spirit to say while navigating the afterlife.
“One of my favorite phrases that I have on a wall of the gallery is ‘May I join with the stars that call out to me in the night boat,’” Cole said.
Cole explained that the manuscripts have been in the Getty’s collection since 1983, when they were donated by a bookseller in New York, who got them from the private collection of a British rare manuscript collector.
Egyptian mummy wrapping of Petosiris, Son of Tetosiris, from around 332–100 BCE.
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Courtesy Getty Museum
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A years-long project is underway to translate the spells and rituals immortalized in the Getty's “Book of the Dead” scrolls and fragments, with a “large publication” in the works, Cole said.
The exhibition will feature four papyri belonging to women named Webennesre, Ankhesenaset, and Aset. Cole said “Book of the Dead” materials belonging to women are rare, because most were reserved for men.
Twelve of the manuscripts in the exhibition are written on fragments of linen that were used to wrap the mummified remains of the people they belonged to. Cole said she hopes visitors will understand that the material was very intimately associated with peoples’ burials.
Cole said her goal is to foreground the identities of the people who owned the scrolls, including two women who were ritual singers for the god Amun in the ancient city of Thebes.
“We see in these manuscripts the ancient Egyptians really grappling with this question and thinking about what might happen when we die... And I think that’s something we can all connect with and understand,” she said.
The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in an important gun case that has united an array of strange bedfellows, from conservative gun rights groups to liberal civil liberties groups.
Why it matters: At issue is a federal law making it a crime for drug users to possess a firearm. It's the same law that was used to prosecute then-President Joe Biden's son for illegal gun possession — only this case involves marijuana use and gun ownership.
What's next: A decision in the case is expected by summer.
Read on... for more about the case.
The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in an important gun case that has united an array of strange bedfellows, from conservative gun rights groups to liberal civil liberties groups. At issue is a federal law making it a crime for drug users to possess a firearm. It's the same law that was used to prosecute then-President Joe Biden's son for illegal gun possession — only this case involves marijuana use and gun ownership.
The briefs in the case present diametrically different versions of the facts. On one side, the Trump administration portrays Ali Danial Hemani as a drug dealer and someone with terrorist ties and a marijuana habit. Importantly, he is not being prosecuted for any of those offenses, however. Rather, the government has charged Hemani with violating a federal gun law that bars people with drug addiction from possession of firearms, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the indictment, declaring that the federal law violates Hemani's Second Amendment right to own a gun.
The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that because Hemani admitted to FBI agents that he used marijuana several times a week, he is a "persistent" drug user, thus rendering illegal the possession of the gun he bought legally and keeps securely in his home.
Hemani's lawyer, law professor Naz Ahmad of the City University of New York, paints a very different picture of her client. Hemani, she notes, was born and raised in Texas, "attended high school there, played on the high school football team, attended the University of Texas at Arlington, was an honor student there" and is "a really valued member of his local religious community."
"The Second Amendment doesn't support disarming and prosecuting somebody for mere possession of a firearm if they happen to have used marijuana occasionally," she says.
"That's a mismatch," she adds, especially at a time when 40 states, to one degree or another, have legalized marijuana use.
If the court rules against Hemani,she says, "the statute could apply to anybody. It could apply to somebody who uses like a marijuana sleep gummy."
The Trump administration's advocate, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, acknowledges that under the Supreme Court's landmark gun decision four years ago, the government has a heavy burden to show that modern-day gun laws are analogous to laws in place at the nation's founding. But he contends that the statute used to prosecute Hemani is both justified and analogous to founding-era laws and practices.
Specifically, in his Supreme Court brief, Sauer points to the harsh punishments imposed during the founding era on "habitual drunkards." And he contends that both Congress and the states have restricted firearm possession by illegal drug users "for as long as that social evil has plagued America."
That said, for the most part, the case seems to have united groups from left to right, from civil liberties groups to gun rights advocates.
"It's outrageous that they tried to get him on a marijuana gun charge," says Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America. He contends that the government is seeking to criminalize conduct that was widely tolerated at the founding.
"It was the universal custom of founding-era militias to imbibe," he notes, adding that Thomas Jefferson and other famous Americans "possessed firearms while being users of drugs ranging from opium to cocaine."
At the opposite end of the ideological spectrum are a variety of gun-safety groups that fear that if Hemani wins his case, it could gouge a hole in the existing system of national background checks.
Under the current system, dealers are required to first clear the sale by submitting the buyer's name to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The hitch is that there is a very small window in which to complete the check — just three days. And gun-safety groups say that anything that makes the rules more complicated and unclear could really screw up the system.
"We're saying" to the court, "whatever you do, it's essential that you keep the rules clear so that in that short window, federal agencies can give a quick answer to the dealers," says Douglas Letter of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
An adverse ruling, he says, would mess up the criminal background check process. That, in turn, would result in "so many, particularly women and children, who will die if that kind of a system is not in place."
A decision in the case is expected by summer.
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Mariana Dale
explores and explains the forces that shape how and what kids learn from kindergarten to high school.
Published March 2, 2026 12:26 PM
A March 2020 LAUSD Facebook post recognized Chait's tenure with the district which includes teaching elementary school, serving as an assistant principal and principal before moving into district administration.
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Courtesy Los Angeles Unified School District
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Topline:
Longtime administrator Andres Chait addressed the public as acting superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District for the first time Monday. His comments came ahead of a closed board meeting to discuss his employment and ongoing labor negotiations with district unions.
What did he say: Chait said his priority as acting superintendent is to keep the district focused. “ We remain committed to academic excellence and student wellbeing,” he said Monday. “Our core values remain unchanged. I know transitions can create uncertainty, but our district is strong.”
Who is Chait? Chait has worked for the district for nearly three decades, most recently as chief of school operations. His responsibilities included overseeing school safety, athletics and the district’s office of emergency management.
Longtime administrator Andres Chait addressed the public as acting superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District for the first time Monday.
“ We remain committed to academic excellence and student wellbeing,” he said ahead of a closed board meeting to discuss his employment and ongoing labor negotiations with district unions. “Our core values remain unchanged. I know transitions can create uncertainty, but our district is strong.”
Chait has worked for the district for nearly three decades, most recently as chief of school operations. His responsibilities included overseeing school safety, athletics and the district’s office of emergency management.
A justice department spokesperson said the agency had a court-authorized warrant but declined to provide additional details. The reason for the searches is unknown.
Lab Assistant Abraham Jimenez loads blood samples for automated serology testing for measles immunity status at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
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Ariana Drehsler
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CalMatters
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Topline:
California is battling measles outbreaks across seven counties as federal funding cuts gut local health departments and vaccine skepticism fuels spread among unvaccinated children.
Outbreaks: California has a high enough vaccination rate — about 95% of kindergarteners — to provide herd immunity against measles, but throughout the state pockets of unvaccinated communities drive outbreaks, experts say.
Read on... for how local health departments are fighting the infection with less funds.
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
When a possible measles case is identified in California, a phone rings at the local health department and the clock starts ticking.
Laboratory workers need to process samples as soon as possible to confirm the case. And a public health nurse must call the patient to find out where they’ve been and who they’ve been in contact with recently.
If test results are positive, the communicable disease team has 72 hours or less to identify anyone who has been exposed and may be at high risk of infection or serious illness. Those people must quarantine or take a dose of a post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent spread. For the next 21 days nurses will monitor the group for symptoms.
“That’s ridiculously infectious,” said Dr. Sharon Balter, director of acute communicable disease control with Los Angeles County public health. “It balloons very quickly, and because measles spreads very fast we have to get on it right away. We can’t say we’ll wait until tomorrow.”
California has a high enough vaccination rate — about 95% of kindergarteners — to provide herd immunity against measles, but throughout the state pockets of unvaccinated communities drive outbreaks, experts say.
Shasta and Riverside counties are working to contain localized outbreaks. These are the first measles outbreaks in the state since 2020 and are happening at a time when health departments have less money and fewer staff than in recent years. In total, seven counties have reported a total of 21 measles cases this year, according to the California Department of Public Health.
“The United States is experiencing the highest numbers of measles cases, outbreaks, hospitalizations and deaths in more than 30 years, driven by populations with low vaccination rates,” said California Public Health Officer Dr. Erica Pan in a statement earlier this month. “We all need to work together to share the medical evidence, benefits, and safety of vaccines to provide families the information they need to protect children and our communities."
Containment comes with high costs
Investigating any communicable disease is time-intensive and expensive. The first three measles cases reported in L.A. County this year cost an estimated $231,000, according to a health department analysis.
Why does it cost so much? Because a disease investigation often requires a legion of public health nurses, physicians, epidemiologists and laboratory scientists to follow-up with hundreds of contacts, Balter said.
A computer shows an analysis of measles sequencing results at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
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Ariana Drehsler
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CalMatters
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That includes sometimes visiting homes or exposure sites. For example, a recent exposure at a daycare required nurses to wring urine out of used diapers to test babies for measles. County health workers monitored 246 people who had been exposed to those first three measles cases — and the work is ongoing.
On Feb. 19, the county reported its fourth measles case. All of them were related to international travel. Other cases in California also have primarily been related to travel either internationally or to states where there are outbreaks. An unvaccinated child in Napa County contracted measles in January after traveling to South Carolina.
Riverside County health officials reported one measles case where the child had not traveled recently, and Shasta County health officials suspect their first case could be related to travel in Southern California but are waiting for DNA testing for confirmation.
Orange County reported two travel-related cases this year.
Health departments have fewer resources, more cases
Local health departments rely heavily on federal funding to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but last year, the Trump administration slashed nearly $1 billion of public health funding from California. This year it attempted to claw back another $600 million from California and three other Democratic states.
Pending lawsuits froze the cuts, but local health departments are treating the money as a lost cause because they cannot bear the financial risk if a judge eventually rules in favor of the Trump administration.
Health departments are also confronting decreased public confidence: The high-profile questioning of vaccine safety and effectiveness by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has complicated public health’s struggle to contain the spread of preventable infections.
California Democratic leaders are aggressively fighting Kennedy’s direction. They sued to block the administration’s new vaccine guidelines, which stripped universal recommendation from seven childhood vaccines. They blame Kennedy and the Trump administration for “dismantling” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and stoking fears over debunked claims that vaccines cause autism.
The state also released its own vaccine guidelines and formed an alliance among four western states to share public health information and recommendations.
“Everything including the outbreaks, the financial cuts, the questions from the federal government that are arising are making our work very difficult,” said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, Orange County public health officer.
Lab Assistant Abraham Jimenez loads blood samples for automated serology testing for measles immunity status at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
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Ariana Drehsler
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CalMatters
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Lab Assistant Abraham Jimenez loads blood samples for automated serology testing for measles immunity status at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health laboratory in Downey on Feb. 26, 2026.
The outbreak, which lasted four months, spurred state lawmakers to pass some of the strictest childhood vaccine requirements in the country.
But even a single measles case requires “vast amounts of infrastructure” to contain, Chinsio-Kwong said. On average, the department identifies and monitors 100 exposed people per case. Since the start of last year, Orange County has lost $22 million in federal cuts to public health. The department is trying to protect their communicable disease surveillance work, but it gets harder with every cut.
“We're trying to prioritize our communicable disease control division,” health officer Chinsio-Kwong said. “There are a lot of different federal cuts, but we're putting that as front and center: That has to be saved no matter what.”
Measles spread in unvaccinated groups
Six hundred miles north, Shasta County is grappling with its first measles cases since 2019 and the state’s largest outbreak of the year.
In late January, a sick child visited a health clinic in Redding with measles symptoms that laboratory testing later confirmed. Health officials interviewed 278 people and identified six locations where others were exposed: a restaurant, a church basketball game, a gym, a park, Costco and the clinic.
They also identified seven other cases among family members or neighbors who were in close contact with the child.
It can take 21 days from the time of exposure for measles symptoms to develop. On Feb. 19, just before the end of that period, health officials confirmed a ninth case.
That person didn’t recognize the symptoms and visited several places while contagious, including a school, a church service, a basketball game and a clinic, said Daniel Walker, a Shasta County supervising epidemiologist. Now, the contract tracing process has started over. The communicable disease team expects to interview even more people this time.
All cases have been among children who were unvaccinated or did not know their vaccination status.
“It’s a great time to get immunized, because you can’t know when you’re next going to be exposed…especially because we’re in an outbreak situation,” Walker said.
Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.
