Posted: February 7, 2018, 11:14am
Over the course of three days last month, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), a joint powers authority of the City and County of Los Angeles, hosted its annual Point-in-Time Count. 8,608 volunteers spread out across 166 deployment sites walked and drove through the many streets and alleys to spot indicators of homelessness, including individuals spending the night outside, makeshift shelters, vehicles filled with clothing and goods, and others. By gathering accurate and reliable information, this count allows community leaders to make more informed decisions when creating solutions to help those experiencing homelessness. To account for all aspects of homelessness, LAHSA coordinates four simultaneous efforts:
- Street Count ~ visual-only tally of everyone unsheltered
- Shelter/Institutional Count ~ count of everyone in shelters, transitional housing, hospitals, and correctional facilities
- Demographic Surveys ~ collection of all demographic information
- Youth Count ~ survey-based count of unaccompanied and unsheltered youth and young families under 24-years-old
The Graduate Student Government Team at the First To Serve Deployment Site!
I joined a group of students brought together through the Graduate Student Government (GSG) to take part in the Street Count portion. We all split up into teams of three and were assigned two “tracts” – specific mapped out areas. Everyone who was deployed from the ‘First to Serve’ location on Vernon was able to count from vehicles since we were mostly looking through residential neighborhoods. This was my first time participating in this event, and it was incredibly enlightening to drive through the many different parts of LA and seeing the conditions of those experiencing homelessness. Last year, there were roughly 57,794 people experiencing homelessness on a given night. I hope the numbers haven’t increased too much leading up to 2018. I encourage everyone living in Greater Los Angeles to take part in this critical coordinated effort next year! Be on the lookout for the GSG team!!
Published on February 7th, 2018
Last updated on April 1st, 2021