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Photo by Jeffrey Beall via Flickr
Photo by Jeffrey Beall via Flickr When the 2009 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count Report (.pdf) was released last Fall, it said there was a 38% drop in homelessness in the county. But that didn't make sense to the shelters and non-profits that claimed their services were overwhelmed. And today, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank released a report furthering facts about an increase in services for the needy.
"The total number of people receiving food assistance has increased by 46 percent since 2005 from 674,100 people annually to 983,400 people in 2009," the food bank said. That many people is a record and it represents nearly 1 in 10 residents of Los Angeles County. "Children comprise 40 percent of people receiving food assistance and seniors comprise 5 percent as an estimated 393,000 kids and 49,000 seniors benefited from food distributed by the Foodbank over the course of the year," the report continued.
And add to that the estimated 584,300 unemployed residents in L.A. County.
"People are probably surprised to hear that nearly one in ten LA County residents now seek charitable food assistance," stated Foodbank President Michael Flood, "and it is critical that both charitable and government programs continue to receive support in order to help hungry people."
Flood adds that agencies are in need of more resources, whether that be in the form of donations or volunteers. The food bank's website has sections dedicated to both donations and volunteering.
Fentanyl and other drugs fuel record deaths among people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County. From 2019 to 2021, deaths jumped 70% to more than 2,200 in a single year.
