More Vehicles Serving As Shelter For Unhoused Angelenos (And Other Headlines)

Tent encampments tend to be the most obvious sign of homelessness in a city. They’ve risen up across Los Angeles in recent years in neighborhoods from Venice to Koreatown to Echo Park.

But my colleague David Wagner reported that tents didn’t play as much of a role in this year’s 9% spike in homelessness across the county.

More unhoused people living in their cars

According to the results of the 2023 homeless count, more people are living in their cars and vans.

The number of tents being used on the streets has actually decreased, but the number of cars being used as a warm place to cover someone’s head in L.A. County has increased by 16%. The number of vans is up by 44%.

A large numbers of L.A.’s unhoused people have been living in vehicles for years, according to one researcher David interviewed, but the focus tends to have been on tents because of their visibility. Encampments have been where L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has targeted her Inside Safe program but, during last week’s press conference announcing the latest homeless count results, she said that the city needs to do more to support Angelenos living in vehicles.

Read David’s story to learn more about who is living in their cars and what this increase in vehicles means for the city and the county.

Stay safe and cool, L.A. There’s more news below — just keep reading.

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Wait! One more thing...

Why inexpensive live shows hard to find

Corbin Bowl, a venue in Tarzana with affordable show.

(

Veronica Lechuga

/

LAist

)

Even though I will give Ticketmaster hundreds of dollars on the spot to see Beyoncé or Janet Jackson in concert, I love a show that is FREE.99 or an inexpensive concert.

LAist contributor Liz Ohanesian used to attend $5 concerts often. But lately, she’s only attended three shows in nearly two months. What happened? In her latest article, Liz explained how even though there are many inexpensive concerts in L.A., they are now really hard to find.

Why?

One of the big reasons is social media algorithms. Sometimes event flyers that organizers paid to promote don’t pop up on social media until after the show. And it’s hard to keep up with live events that are inexpensive when higher profile and more expensive shows with bigger budgets get more promotion on people’s feeds.

This has led some organizers to do some old-school promotion.

Learn more about what that looks like, and what inexpensive shows you should check out in Liz’s latest piece.