After reaching an initial goal last night of over 4,000 volunteers, on Thursday the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority announced a strong start to the 2026 point-in-time count but called for more volunteers on nights two and three.
As of Tuesday evening, the number of registered volunteers for the three-night Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count totaled 4,500, surpassing the initial goal of 4,200. As of Thursday morning, over 4800 volunteers have registered.
“I’m proud of the team at LAHSA for working hard for the last few months to ensure that we start the Homeless Count off with a bang,” agency CEO Gita O’Neill said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to similar results during night two.”
The strong turnout on the first night of the count led LAHSA officials to estimate that there are 50 fewer make-up tracts than on the first night of last year’s effort.
LAHSA also reported its most successful digital launch since moving to a counting app for mobile phones in 2022. While LAHSA staff and deployment-site coordinators assisted some volunteers with “isolated issues,” no major problems were reported on the count’s first night, officials said.
While LAHSA surpassed the initial goal for the number of volunteers, officials said they “can accept even more people looking to give back to their community” on Thursday and Friday nights.
“We still need volunteers,” O’Neill said. “The more people who participate in the Homeless Count, the better the experience is for everyone involved. If people want to contribute to addressing homelessness in their community, register to volunteer at theycountwillyou.org.”
LAHSA is a joint Los Angeles County and city agency.
