LA Faces the Real Homeless Numbers Ahead of 2028 Olympics—Report Uncovers Crisis

There is almost nowhere you can go in Los Angeles that the homeless have not taken over and ruined.  Does anyone really believe the government numbers.  Everybody, Left and Right, KNOWS government lies.

“While LAHSA found the daily unhoused population to be 75,312 individuals, The Economic Roundtable believes  “there is annual turnover within the portion of the homeless population that is unsheltered for less than a year, so the annual population is almost twice as large as the point-in-time population – an estimated 139,151 people.” The report also noted a trend of individuals becoming homeless at a younger age, now averaging 25 years old.

Flaming explains that those who are briefly homeless, such as individuals in limbo or who just lost their homes, contribute to the more transient portion of the homeless population count. However, a significant number of people remain on the streets for extended periods. According to the report, the average length of time individuals are homeless has increased to 1,927 days, during which many are also acquiring criminal records.”

That means the average time someone is homeless is OVER ten years.  Yet, the number continues to grow—is L.A. going to ship our homeless to Aurora, Colorado, Springfield, Ohio or to Marthas Vineyard, for the Olympics?  Instead, maybe they will end policies that cause homelessness—though I doubt it.

LA Faces the Real Homeless Numbers Ahead of 2028 Olympics—Report Uncovers Crisis

Rachael Gaudiosi, Westside Current,  9/12/24  https://www.westsidecurrent.com/news/la-faces-the-real-homeless-numbers-ahead-of-2028-olympics-report-uncovers-crisis/article_2258ebda-6e32-11ef-ba2a-3f7302feaa6c.html?utm_source=westsidecurrent.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter%2Foptimize%2Fdaily-headlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1726669827&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

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LOS ANGELES – Mayor Karen Bass is set to install the Olympic and Paralympic flags at City Hall today, marking a milestone as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Games for the third time. As the city celebrates, pressure is building to address a critical issue ahead of the event. The Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit urban research organization, has released a report calling for ten specific interventions to tackle homelessness before the athletes arrive.  

In this just-released report, Excelling for the 2028 Olympics: Restoring, Not Displacing, LA’s Unsheltered Residents, The Economic Roundtable claims to find the Los Angeles homeless population to be almost twice as high as the annual Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) point in time count this year. 

“A lot of people are homeless for only a short amount of time, they get some help from friends or relatives or, and they get out,” said Daniel Flaming, one of the main researchers on the report, “while it’s useful to know how many people don’t have a place of their own on a given night, it’s also important to look at how many people this happens to over a year when you’re making budgets.”

While LAHSA found the daily unhoused population to be 75,312 individuals, The Economic Roundtable believes  “there is annual turnover within the portion of the homeless population that is unsheltered for less than a year, so the annual population is almost twice as large as the point-in-time population – an estimated 139,151 people.” The report also noted a trend of individuals becoming homeless at a younger age, now averaging 25 years old.

Flaming explains that those who are briefly homeless, such as individuals in limbo or who just lost their homes, contribute to the more transient portion of the homeless population count. However, a significant number of people remain on the streets for extended periods. According to the report, the average length of time individuals are homeless has increased to 1,927 days, during which many are also acquiring criminal records.

“It’s an imperfect practice to produce an estimate of the number of people who have experienced homelessness over the course of the year based on a single point-in-time, but the [Economic Roundtable] estimate makes sense,” said Benjamin Henwood, USC Homelessness Policy Research Institute (HPRI) Director. 

The report specifically calls out Mayor Karen Bass and her signature Inside Safe Homeless Initiative as a costly and inefficient system, stating, “clearly, the current system is not sustainable. Worse yet, as the 2028 Olympics approach, the motel-based models of Inside Safe and Pathway Home will break down, as motel owners either terminate their agreements or demand rates comparable to what they will be able to charge tourists.”

A spokesperson for the mayor disputed the report’s findings, stating, “The Mayor is leading Los Angeles in a new direction, addressing the homelessness crisis with the urgency it demands to bring people indoors and save lives. In the Mayor’s first year, street homelessness decreased by 10 percent. Saving lives remains a top priority, and this progress will continue.”

The first of the ten city interventions The Economic Roundtable calls for in their report is to “address homelessness as a problem of inadequate income by providing help in getting a job or providing a basic income.” 

“What we’re saying is the same money could go a heck of a lot further if you gave it to people as a housing grant and let them have ownership of their solution,” said Daniel Flaming, “There have been a number of pilot projects that say, in large, people use money for necessities. That’s not to say they never want to drink or smoke a joint., but, you know, having a roof over your head to do so is pretty damn important.”

“Overall, there’s not a lot of supporting evidence that interim housing ultimately resolves homelessness. As noted in a report that I co-authored, I find the idea of providing basic income as a way to resolve homelessness intriguing, compelling, and in need of further testing,” said Benjamin Henwood.