Los Angeles homelessness drops amid 18% nationwide increase

Despite an 18% spike in nationwide homelessness in 2024 compared with last year, Los Angeles and several other cities bucked the national trend — LA posted a 5% drop in unsheltered homelessness over the same period, the first such decrease in seven years, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Friday.

HUD’s 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report: Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates  found more than 770,000 people in the United States were experiencing homelessness on one night in January.

In the LA region, 49,509 people were unsheltered with 71,201 overall experiencing homelessness in 2024, compared with 52,307 unsheltered and 71,320 overall in 2023.

The San Diego area’s unhoused residents totaled 10,605, followed by San Jose/Santa Clara with 10,394; Oakland/Berkeley/Alameda County at 9,450; San Francisco with 8,323; and Santa Ana/Anaheim/Orange County with 7,322 unhoused residents.

Counts this year in Riverside city and county reported 4,249 residents experiencing homelessness, with 1,808 unsheltered, according to HUD. The 2023 totals were 3,725 unhoused residents overall and 2,441 unsheltered.

In San Bernardino city and county, 3,055 people were living unsheltered in 2024, with 4,255 total experiencing homelessness. In 2023, the totals were 4,195 overall and 2,976 unsheltered.

Long Beach’s overall homeless population decreased slightly to 3,376 in 2024 from 3,447 the year prior. Unsheltered city residents numbered 2,455 in 2024 and 2,482 in 2023.

Individuals experiencing homelessness in Pasadena numbered 556 overall in 2024, the same total recored in 2023, according to HUD. Unsheltered individuals totaled 321 in 2024 and 303 the year prior.

Nationwide, families experiencing homelessness spiked by 39% compared with a year earlier.

People experiencing homelessness in New York City totaled 88,025 overall in 2023 and 140,134 in 2024, a nearly 60% increase.

According to HUD, the nationwide homelessness increase this year was tied to migration, displacement by natural disasters such as the Maui fire and increasing housing costs.

However, Los Angeles was among municipalities, such as Dallas and Chester County, Pennsylvania, that posted a decrease in people experiencing homelessness, according to HUD data.

Struggling with a high-cost rental market, Los Angeles increased the availability of housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, combining federal, state, county and city funds, according to the federal agency.

“This crisis has been decades in the making, but after years of increases, we’ve turned the corner with the first decrease in street homelessness in years, by acting with innovative solutions that have resulted in thousands more people inside and more housing being built throughout the city,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “There’s still more work to do and this urgent work will continue in 2025.”

California, the state with the highest population in the U.S., also has the most unhoused residents — 187,084 in 2024 and 181,399 the year before — followed by New York, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts.

HUD attributed the spike in homelessness to increases in rent rates that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and decades of inadequate numbers of new housing projects, HUD said.

The Maui fire, among other natural disasters, led to an increase in homelessness, according to HUD. In Hawaii, over 5,200 people were in disaster emergency shelters on the night of the homelessness count.

HUD also reported that veterans experiencing homelessness decreased almost 8% in the United States from 35,574 in 2023 to 32,882 in 2024. The number of unsheltered veterans dropped nearly 11%, from 15,507 in 2023 to 13,851 in 2024.

In the LA area, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s 2024 homelessness count reported a 22.9% drop in veterans who were unhoused.

Bass’ office pointed to HUD-backed initiatives that led to this decline, such as boosting participation in a veteran housing voucher program, HUD-VASH and policy changes regarding veterans’ benefits.

“Los Angeles is one of the few communities in the country that saw a decrease in homelessness,” LAHSA CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum said in a statement. “What’s happening in L.A. is working.

“Now is not the time to go backward,” Adams Kellum added. “Our community must redouble its efforts in pursuing what we know works to bring all our unsheltered neighbors home.”

According to LAHSA, its 2024 homelessness count found that roughly 54% of people who became unhoused cited economic hardship as one of the main reasons they lost their home.

Gov. Gavin Newsom touted the state’s efforts to curtail the increase in homelessness that bucked the national trend.

“No one in our nation should be without a place to call home,” Newsom said in a statement. “Homelessness continues to rise and increase at ever-higher numbers nationwide, but we are seeing signs of progress in California. We have turned the tide on a decades-long increase in homelessness — but we have more work to do. California‘s plan is ambitious and challenging but the data is proving that it is not impossible: our strategies are making a positive difference.”

Compared with the national trend’s 18% spike, California held its statewide homelessness increase to 3%, a lower rate than in 40 other states this year. California’s unsheltered homelessness increased 0.45%.

In 2024, nationwide unsheltered homelessness increased just under 7%. In other states with large populations such as Illinois, Florida, New York and Texas, growth in unsheltered homelessness surpassed California in percentage and number.

According to the governor’s office, California is a nationwide leader in availability for year-round shelter beds. 

“As the total number of shelter beds decreased nationally by nearly 4%, California’s year-round shelter bed capacity grew by 5.7%, reaching 208,517 beds — more than any other state in the nation,” the governor’s office reported. “During the Newsom Administration, California made available a record number of 71,000 shelter beds. This is nearly double the number created in the previous five-year period before 2019.”

California’s growth rate in year-round shelter outpaced 35 other states, according to Newsom’s office.

In August, Newsom issued an executive order prodding local governments to enact policies and plans consistent with the California Department of Transportation’s encampment policy.

“This policy prioritizes encampments that pose a threat to the life, health, and safety of the community, while ensuring a humane approach,” according to the governor’s office. “Caltrans provides advance notice of clearance and works with local service providers to support those experiencing homelessness at the encampment, and stores personal property collected at the site for at least 60 days.”

The executive order also directed the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to release new guidance to help local communities address encampments. The guidance details best practices for removing encampments and connecting encampment residents with supportive services and housing.

Behavioral health care is another point of focus at the state level in an effort to bolster “access, accountability, transparency, and capacity,” according to Newsom’s office. 

The Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment, or CARE Court, is “a first-in-the-nation approach to create accountability for connecting individuals with untreated psychosis to the treatment and housing they need,” the governor’s office reported.

Officials also referenced Proposition 1, which expanded “the behavioral health continuum using existing dollars and providing care to individuals experiencing mental health conditions and substance use disorders — with a particular focus on people who are the most seriously ill, vulnerable, and at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness.”

Between 2014 and 2019, unsheltered homelessness in California increased by about 37,000 individuals, more than double the increase seen during the Newsom Administration’s five years. Since 2019, the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness has increased by 14.3%.

More from LA County