Volunteers across Los Angeles County are being sought to register and participate for the upcoming 2024 homeless count, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority announced today.
What to Know
- Volunteers can register for the homeless count at TheyCountWillYou.org.
- The count will occur over a three period on Jan. 23, 24 and 25.
- Volunteers must be 18 years or older to participate in the count.
Officially called the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, it is expected to occur over a three-day period. Thousands of volunteers are expected to spread out across the 4,000 square miles of L.A. County to conduct the count.
In 2016, LAHSA started hosting the homeless count annually to provide improved analysis regarding the trends of people experiencing homelessness. Government agencies, including LAHSA, use the data collected during the
homeless count to develop strategies to end homelessness and determine where funding and resources will do the most good.
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Traveling in small groups, volunteers will tally the number of unsheltered individuals, tents, vehicles, and make-shift shelters they see in their assigned Census tract.
Volunteers can register for the homeless count at TheyCountWillYou.org.
"The annual homeless count is an important tool to understand where our neighbors experiencing homelessness are located and to know where services are needed most, so we can help as many people as possible come home," said Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of LAHSA. "However, we can't do it alone. We need thousands of people to come out and count as many census tracts as possible so we can deliver accurate results this spring.''
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On the first day of the count, Jan. 23, volunteers will be sent out in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. Then on Jan. 24, volunteers will be sent out in East and West L.A. to conduct the count. On the final day, Jan.25, LAHSA will organize volunteers in the Antelope Valley, Metro system and South L.A.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a biennial point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness.
For the 2024 homeless count the agency is seeking 8,000 volunteers to cover the entire Continuum of Care.
According to the LAHSA, 2024 will mark the second year that volunteers will use Esri's Homeless Point in Time App to tally the number of people and makeshift dwellings they find during their count.
LAHSA is expected to release the results to the public in late spring or early summer in 2024.
Technology can help make the homeless count as accurate as possible. This year, LAHSA is piloting geofencing within the Point in Time App to alert volunteers when they have moved outside their assigned census tract's boundaries.
The annual Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count includes the Youth Count and the Housing Inventory Count. LAHSA will conduct the Youth Count from Jan. 22 through 31 and the Housing Inventory Count on January 24.
