Tuesday, 28 July 2026, 3:40
After two years of historic reductions, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles is expected to rise. Multiple sources familiar with the data told FOX 11 that the city's homeless population is projected to increase by about 3.5% compared to 2025, bringing it back near 2024 levels. The unsheltered population - those living on the streets - may have risen by around 8%, according to one source. According to four people briefed on the results, homelessness in the city of Los Angeles increased by 3.4% to 45,194 people living without stable shelter. The growth was driven by a 7.9% rise in unsheltered homelessness - the number of people living outdoors in tents, makeshift lean-tos and vehicles. LAHSA data indicated that this increase was significantly driven by more people living in recreational vehicles. The 2026 results will also show a 1.2% increase in overall homelessness across much of L.A. County, excluding Pasadena, Long Beach and Glendale. Unsheltered homelessness across the county rose by 3.3%. This geographic area, known as the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC), includes L.A. County except those three cities which have their own homeless systems. Overall, the county's homeless population had decreased 14% since 2023 before this year's uptick. However, one source told Eyewitness News that the increase falls within the margin of error for the count. Officials with LAHSA declined to provide this year's margins of error. Because the increases in the city and county numbers were close to last year's margins of error, it wasn't clear whether they would be considered statistically significant. Gita O'Neill, LAHSA Interim CEO, said in a statement, "While statisticians do not consider these shifts statistically significant, we know that these numbers represent real people - real people striving for a permanent home in our region... This may not be what people want to hear, but the good news is thanks to LAHSA's administrative data, we have clear visibility into why our progress has stalled, and what it will take to get back on track." The 2024 homeless count also showed declines, but those drops were within the margin of error, according to county officials. Mayor Karen Bass confirmed the upward trend in a statement, saying that despite progress, federal and state funding cuts made it impossible to continue the declines. Bass, who was briefed on the findings, acknowledged to Fox 11 that the city's unhoused population has increased, although she didn't share a specific percentage. Some downtown residents say the official numbers reflect what they have been seeing firsthand. "I don't listen to numbers. My eyes are better than numbers," one resident said. Another resident said conditions have improved in some areas, but challenges remain. "I see a lot going on within the streets that has helped people get inside," the resident said.
The 2025 point-in-time count tallied 72,308 homeless individuals countywide and 43,669 in the city of Los Angeles. Those figures represented a 3.4% drop in the city and a 4% drop countywide compared to 2024, with unsheltered homelessness declining by 7.9%. The 2026 count for all of Los Angeles County, including independent cities, tallied approximately 73,000 homeless individuals, according to LAHSA.
Mayor Bass attributed the increase to several factors: the Trump administration's policies that drove up the cost of gas, groceries, and rent; cuts to safety net programs; and a reduction of more than $70 million in state Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grants. She also pointed to a lack of adequate services from Los Angeles County. When asked to clarify, Bass’ office said she was most concerned about state reductions to the HHAP grant program. The county is in the midst of a major transition: the new Homeless Services and Housing Department (HSH) has taken over contracts and funding from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which had been plagued by audit findings of financial irregularities, including failing to reimburse nonprofits on time. Bass said last week she was concerned the latest count could show an increase, citing funding reductions and changes affecting homelessness programs. "I'm definitely concerned. We've been concerned this last year the numbers might go up because of the cuts we've experienced," Bass said. In a statement Wednesday, Bass said the city reduced homelessness by 13% since 2023, moved thousands of people into interim housing through her Inside Safe program and housed more than 1,000 veterans experiencing homelessness. "The lack of adequate services continues to be a real problem and a contributing factor to people cycling in and out of homelessness," Bass said. Bass also noted that her office has helped 85,000 people avoid eviction and moved tens of thousands of people into interim housing. She attributed the increase to a 50% cut in state HHAP funding from $1 billion to $500 million, resulting in a $70 million hit to L.A. city alone. She added that she raised philanthropic dollars to help supplement the cuts, and this year she fought alongside other mayors to reverse these cuts, restoring it to $900 million.
According to Paul Rubenstein, LAHSA Chief of Staff, a pause and funding reduction in Time-Limited Subsidies (TLS) - a short-term rental assistance program - led to over 5,000 fewer people obtaining permanent housing compared to previous years. "The number of new TLS movements in 2025 dropped to below 2022 levels," Rubenstein said. "That drop contributed to more than 5,000 fewer people receiving permanent housing."
In a separate statement, Bass said, "For two years straight, we drove down homelessness by historic margins - but as expected, last year our efforts ultimately couldn't keep up with policies and funding cuts at the federal and state levels that pushed more people onto the streets." Bass also said that city leaders have ignored the homelessness crisis for decades, and that the lack of adequate services from the county remains a real problem.
Following the audits, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pulled federal funding for the organization in June 2026 after investigators claimed the local agency "abused hundreds of millions of tax dollars per year." In a letter to LAHSA executives, HUD staff said they "uncovered evidence" that LAHSA lacked financial management, internal controls and safeguards against conflicts of interest for the $944 million it has received since 2021. "I'm not going to defend a broken system," Bass said. "The City must build something better - results-driven, transparent, and centered around the people we're trying to help, not the bureaucracy." Bass further elaborated, saying, "For thirty years, this city has run its homeless response through LAHSA - and audits and the courts have now made plain what too many Angelenos already saw: the money wasn't tracked, providers went unpaid, and public trust eroded."
Former LA City Councilman Mike Bonin, now the executive director of Cal State LA's Institute for Public Affairs, criticized the annual homeless counts and their credibility. "My first take on the homelessness count numbers is that, generally speaking, they're not the most credible numbers in the world," Bonin said. "It's a useful tool for allocating funding, to give you a sense of where people are, but it is mainly, for good or for bad, being used as a tool in political debate, as we're seeing right now. It's become an issue in the mayor's race."
In contrast to the city's increase, the countywide unsheltered population actually decreased, according to the data. This suggests divergent trends between the city and the rest of the county.
Glendale, Pasadena, and Long Beach conduct their own homeless counts separate from LAHSA. Long Beach released its 2026 data on July 20, showing a 3.7% increase in homelessness (to 3,729 people), but also a 15.4% increase in those staying in shelters. The proportion of unsheltered homelessness in Long Beach fell to 69.4%, the lowest in four years. Glendale's numbers are expected to be released later. According to LAHSA, the independent counts in Long Beach, Pasadena, and Glendale collectively showed a 3.5% increase in unsheltered homelessness. The countywide count excludes these three cities, which are part of separate Continuums of Care.
LAHSA, the joint city-county agency that has coordinated homeless services for decades, is being phased out. The county's HSH department took over all service contracts on July 1, 2026, absorbing dozens of LAHSA employees. The transition follows a November 2024 county audit that revealed serious financial mismanagement at LAHSA, including inadequate controls and inappropriate use of funds. Mayor Bass has proposed shifting away from LAHSA after audits in 2024 and 2025 uncovered severe accounting concerns, and the city is considering forming its own homeless services department, further fragmenting the regional response. To establish the county's new Homeless Services and Housing Department, LA County has diverted over $300 million, officials said.
HSH will also manage new dollars from a Nov. 2024 county one-half cent sales tax, Measure A, which will produce about $1 billion every year, giving the county more control of tax dollars. The transition has exposed diverging paths for the city of L.A. and the county, raising new questions about accountability, data accuracy and whether the long-standing joint system can hold together amid deepening budget pressures. There has been talk of Los Angeles forming its own homeless services department, or joining with L.A. County's HSH Department. Los Angeles, including LAPD, have operators working calls at the county's Emergency Centralized Response Center (ECRC), touted by county officials as a coordinated, faster and more efficient approach to homeless responses than LAHSA. "This is not the county's pet project. It is something that belongs to the whole region. I believe the city of Los Angeles can work with us if they want to," said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath on Thursday, July 23. She said by moving away from LAHSA with its own department, the residents can see where the money is and how it is spent. In a separate statement, Horvath added, "People experiencing homelessness - and the communities impacted by this crisis - care less about esoteric debates over the numbers. They care more about what they see on our streets - whether people are getting into housing, accessing the care they need, and being accountable for how their tax dollars are being spent."
LAHSA has been beset by financial irregularities, including having no agreements with community partners for repaying cash advances from the county; failing to timely reimburse nonprofits groups working in the field even when money was available; inadequate controls over contract reviews or cash payments; and inappropriate use of funds, according to results of a county audit released in November 2024. Last year, providers of services from nonprofits testified before the Board of Supervisors about not getting paid by LAHSA. The managers of LA Family Housing, The People Concern, People Assisting the Homeless, Special Service for Groups, and Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System, all testified they had to take out lines of credit at high interest rates - or even use their own credit cards - just to stay afloat and continue to provide services. The joint services agency denied that the audits ever proved fraud. Interim CEO Gita O'Neill said the agency has worked to rectify problems over financial reporting, internal controls, programmatic performance and contract monitoring in an interview on Jan. 20, the day before the start of the 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. Horvath said the county has taken over all service contracts once managed by LAHSA beginning July 1, saying the county no longer needs LAHSA. It has even brought over dozens of LAHSA employees to HSH that were being laid off. She says changes in the way contracts are handled and money is spent will not have an effect on tomorrow's count.
The numbers represent a significant setback for Bass, who is seeking a second term in the Nov. 3 election and has made the fight against homelessness a central part of her agenda, touting her administration's progress in moving people indoors. Bass had repeatedly touted a 17.5% drop in unsheltered homelessness over two years in L.A., offering signs of hope in a city where homelessness had been steadily trending upward for a decade. Inside Safe, the mayor's signature homelessness program, has moved more than 6,000 people into hotels, motels and other types of interim housing since Bass took office in December 2022. But by May 31, 41% of those people had returned to homelessness, according to LAHSA figures collected separately from this year's homeless count.
Bass, who has attended the homeless count release event for the past three years, has not responded to requests from LAist asking whether she will attend this year's announcement.
The increases in homelessness are "bad for Los Angeles, and therefore bad for the incumbent mayor," said political science professor Fernando Guerra, who heads the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. "For her political campaign, there's nothing good about this count," he said. "It contradicts her main campaign theme. It contradicts the successes of her first term. It contradicts the narrative of her reasons for running for reelection."
Bass was already facing an array of challenges this summer: anger over the protracted cleanup from the Lineage fire in Boyle Heights, where smells and vermin have plagued the surrounding neighborhood; multiple water main breaks, including one that caused major flooding; and questions about the overlapping roles held by a crisis communications consultant who advised her office for free. The mayor's favorability ratings took a nosedive last year in the wake of the Palisades fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and left 12 people dead. In the months that followed, Bass was also confronted with a major budget crisis and federal immigration raids that devastated families and businesses.
City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who heads the council's committee on housing and homelessness, is running for mayor against Bass. Raman released a statement calling this year's numbers "disappointing, but not surprising." "Leadership at City Hall has not shown the willingness to shift toward an approach that actually moves people into permanent housing. And these results make clear that the Mayor's approach is not working well enough. The results in my district tell a different story - a significant decrease in the number of people living on our streets. Those results came from sustained, hands-on work, and I am confident we can bring that approach - and those results - citywide." Raman also said, "Our city is failing the people who are sleeping outside. It is failing families who cannot safely use the sidewalks or parks, and it's failing taxpayers who voted three times in the last decade to tax themselves because they were promised housing services and care that would really address the crisis on our streets."
Near Pershing Square, residents point to open-air drug use, trash and other quality-of-life concerns. On South Hope Street, several vacant buildings have repeatedly caught fire. Residents and neighborhood leaders say people living in the vacant buildings may be connected to some of the incidents. "It's people experiencing homelessness more than likely, trying to keep warm or cooking up something to eat," one resident said. Jens Midthun, president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, said abandoned properties are adding to the challenges. "These are nuisance properties. There's not enough inspectors, there's not enough funding for these programs. They're not operating in a way that is acceptable to the neighborhood," Midthun said. Midthun said downtown continues to carry a significant share of the homelessness crisis. "Downtown, we face the brunt of it. Downtown is the heart of the homelessness crisis," he said. When the official LAHSA report is released, sources say some council districts will report a decline in homelessness, while others will report an increase.
The 2026 homeless count provides a crucial snapshot of a region at a crossroads. With new leadership at the county, ongoing budget pressures, and shifting federal priorities, the numbers released Friday will shape debates over funding, accountability, and the future of homeless services. LAHSA conducted the count in January and initially planned to release the results in "late spring or early summer." The agency typically released past homeless count findings in June. Residents and advocates will be watching closely to see if the region can reverse the trend.
