Homeless encampments have been markedly diminished in Hollywood and Venice final yr, however the variety of folks sleeping “tough” and not using a tent, car or makeshift shelter held regular, elevating the chance that the features can be tougher to maintain sooner or later, a brand new Rand report concluded.
The overall variety of unsheltered homeless folks was down 15% total within the three areas Rand research, the primary lower because the undertaking started in 2021. However the declines — 49% in Hollywood and 22% in Venice have been partially offset by a 9% enhance in Skid Row.
The report authors pointed to a possible optimistic impact of public insurance policies which have elevated everlasting and interim housing, notably Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Protected program, however discovered that these left behind pose a higher problem.
“Tough” sleeping represented about 40% of the full unsheltered inhabitants within the rely, taken in December 2024.
“Tent dwelling is not the standard modality of homeless life in Los Angeles,” mentioned lead writer Louis Abramson.
“We’re seeing this image the place there does appear to be actual progress in bringing folks off the road however the people who find themselves nonetheless on the road are essentially the most weak,” Abramson mentioned. “The acuity indicators usually are not trending in the identical means because the numbers. Individuals’s degree of well being, properly being and connectivity shouldn’t be bettering and is in some methods deteriorating.”
The report is the third launched yearly by the Los Angeles Longitudinal Enumeration and Demographic Survey (LA LEADS), performed by Rand’s Middle on Housing and Homelessness.
The findings are in step with preliminary outcomes for the 2025 point-in-time rely launched in March by the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority. Primarily based on uncooked counts, the company projected a countywide decline of between 5% and 10% in unsheltered homelessness.
LAHSA introduced Monday that it’ll launch its closing outcomes of the rely July 14.
Rand’s report represents a extra intensive examination of three areas thought of homelessness scorching spots. Researchers return each two months to trace adjustments over time. They rely particular person tents, automobiles, makeshift shelters and other people sleeping unsheltered. Utilizing a strategy just like LAHSA’s, they estimate the variety of folks occupying every kind of shelter to calculate complete populations.
The report discovered “good cause” to hyperlink Hollywood’s dramatic decline to a sequence of Inside Protected operations performed there final yr, however the report was much less clear in Venice, which additionally noticed a decline with out having any Inside Protected operations. The results of enforcement underneath town’s part 41.18 anti-camping ordinance have been much less clear. The report discovered that an estimated 12% of Skid Row’s unsheltered inhabitants had been cited underneath the ordinance but the realm’s homeless inhabitants elevated.
“Thus, crediting adjustments in unsheltered homelessness to particular packages—or understanding the connection of these adjustments to new inflows of individuals—requires extra research,” the authors wrote.
One other think about Hollywood’s dramatic enchancment may very well be the efforts of a Los Angeles County Division of Psychological Well being pilot undertaking known as Hollywood 2.0, which helped deliver county psychological well being companies to the realm, coordinated outreach and was a power behind the opening of two new housing initiatives, a 50-bed interim shelter and 90-bed board and care dwelling.
“I feel Hollywood 2.0 was a robust contributor to the lower in usheltered homelessnes,” mentioned Brittney Weissman. government director of Hollywood 4WRD, a nonprofit that conducts group engagement for the undertaking.
A demographic survey accompanying the rely discovered disconcerting developments associated to the expansion of “tough” sleeping. Respondents reported staying in the identical location for shorter quantities. That discovering was in step with “will increase in sanitation and different encampment decision efforts—most typical in Hollywood—that both transfer unsheltered folks indoors or periodically displace them, leaving a extra transient, cell, and dynamic inhabitants,” the report mentioned.
General, 91% of respondents in all three areas expressed curiosity in being housed, however solely 38% reported being on a wait listing. Solely 13% reported being provided supportive housing, whereas 39% have been provided group shelter. Fewer than 50% accepted.
Individuals ages 62 and older and people incomes lower than $99 monthly have been considerably much less more likely to be trying to find housing than youthful folks or these with larger incomes.
The report highlighted variations between the three areas.
These in Venice reported barely larger ranges of schooling charges of Social Safety and incapacity advantages and revenue, and have been extra more likely to be employed.
Skid Row’s unsheltered inhabitants skews older and extra feminine and Black in comparison with the opposite areas. They reported being much less more likely to be working, extra more likely to report psychological well being, bodily well being, and substance use issues, extra more likely to keep in the identical location for 3 years or longer and fewer more likely to be pressured to maneuver by legislation enforcement or housed residents. Of the remaining tent encampments, 80% have been in Skid Row.
The authors made two suggestions: To maintain the optimistic pattern, policymakers ought to proceed to prioritize and streamline the creation of everlasting housing. And, they want new methods for the altering demographics.
The pattern to tough sleeping will seemingly additional pressure service suppliers and outreach groups as their shoppers grow to be extra cell and weak, and encampment-based housing initiatives will grow to be much less efficient.
Although tough sleeping remained regular final yr, it had inched upward over the three years of the research.
“There are methods which are bringing folks efficiently off the road,” Abramson mentioned. “However for these different populations it appears like we’re going to must develop particular methods that aren’t in our toolkit proper now.”
