Why even strong progress sheltering the unhoused in LA can't keep up with our affordable housing crisis

The latest numbers on homelessness in L.A. County are both promising and vexing.

On Friday, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority announced that 2023 set a record for unhoused people entering permanent housing. Officials said the county’s rehousing system made 27,300 long-term housing placements last year, a 21% increase from the previous year.

Fixing homelessness is top of mind for many in our region. Local taxpayers have voted multiple times to tax themselves to raise billions to combat the issue.

And you might think all those move-ins led to fewer people experiencing homelessness. But homelessness actually plateaued in 2024, declining by an almost negligible 0.27% across L.A. County to a total of 75,312 people.

That’s because, officials say, for every person placed into permanent housing, others are losing their housing and joining the ranks of L.A.’s unhoused.

“There is that sense that people are still falling in faster than we're able to house them,” said Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of the homeless services authority.

Many are on their first spell of homelessness

In this year’s count, 68% of people living without shelter in L.A. County said they were experiencing homelessness for the first time.

Why is the number of people falling into homelessness still so stubbornly high? A majority of newly unsheltered people said they became homeless due to economic hardships (54%) rather than health problems (17%) or being discharged from an institutional system (14%).

Those survey numbers mirror statewide research that points to high housing costs as a primary driver of homelessness.

A recent California-wide study conducted by UC San Francisco researchers found that while one-in-five Californians became unhoused after exiting an institution such as prison or a drug treatment facility, the vast majority fell into homelessness because they simply couldn’t afford the state’s high housing costs. Among those surveyed, 90% had lost their housing in California.

Eviction filings are up 38%

Locally, eviction filings in L.A. County were higher in 2023 than in any other year since 2016. As local governments peeled away the region’s remaining COVID-19 tenant protections, eviction filings rose 38% between 2022 and 2023 to an annual total of 47,625.

Kyle Nelson, who studies eviction trends as a policy and research analyst with the L.A. nonprofit Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, says huge resources are going toward getting people off the streets and into housing — but that work is being offset by rising evictions.

“We have this apparatus that really should be making that kind of progress — driving down the numbers,” Nelson said. But corresponding increases in evictions “have the potential to really negate the really positive progress that we're making,” he added.

Efforts to prevent homelessness in an expensive market

Some L.A. City Council members and county supervisors have proposed giving tenants free attorneys in eviction court. Most renters are currently fighting evictions without representation. Outreach workers have also developed new strategies for contacting L.A. tenants at imminent risk of eviction to offer help staying housed.

Some people who fall into homelessness don’t lose their housing through formal eviction proceedings. The UCSF study found that many didn’t have a lease before they became unhoused. Instead they were doubled up with family or friends, or contributing rent to the primary leaseholder in an overcrowded apartment.

Whatever housing people were clinging to before becoming unhoused, homeless services officials say L.A. rents are simply too expensive for many. A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that L.A. households must earn close to $102,000 per year to comfortably afford a basic two-bedroom apartment. Minimum wage employees would need to work more than three full-time jobs to cover the $2,544 monthly rent for such an apartment.

Adams Kellum, the L.A. Homeless Services Authority CEO, said providers need to keep placing unhoused people in housing. But L.A. also needs to help people not become homeless in the first place.

“We have to keep talking about prevention,” Adams Kellum said. “If we're onto something here, and we can stem the tide of people falling in, that could be a really encouraging place to be.”

If you care about housing affordability

For people who live in L.A., the Board of Supervisors and City Council have the most direct impact on housing affordability in your neighborhood.

• Learn more about who influences local housing policy
  

The best way to keep tabs on your own local government is by attending public meetings for your city council or local boards. Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Find meeting schedules and agendas: City councils usually meet at least twice a month, although larger ones may meet weekly. Committees and boards tend to meet less often, typically once a month. You can find the schedule and meeting agenda on your local government’s website, or posted physically at your local city hall. Find more tips here.

  • Find L.A. City Council agendas and meeting dates
  • Find meetings for L.A. city boards and commissions
  • Find L.A. County agendas and meeting dates
• Learn the jargon: Closed session, consent calendars and more! We have definitions for commonly used terms here.
• How to give public comment: Every public meeting allows community members to give comment, whether or not it’s about something on the agenda. The meeting agenda will have specific instructions for giving public comment. Review more details here.

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