LOS ANGELES – While in Paris for the Olympic and Paralympic Opening Games, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced more than 15 unhoused Angelenos were brought inside from an encampment at Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights, a historic green space that surrounding families rely on for park and recreation space. Please see photos and b-roll here.
“While the world is focused on the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, the urgency to house our most vulnerable Angelenos remains,” said Mayor Karen Bass. “For the first time in years, unsheltered homelessness has decreased in Los Angeles because of a comprehensive approach that leads with housing and services, not criminalization. Strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations instead of housing do not work. Thank you to our City partners for your continued partnership in confronting this crisis. We will continue our momentum and lock arms to address homelessness throughout the city.”
Last month, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) announced the results of the 2024 Homeless Point-In-Time Count, which showed a decline in homelessness in the City of Los Angeles for the first time in six years and historic reductions in street homelessness. The 2024 count results saw a 17% increase in the number of people moved off the streets.
Since her first day in office when she declared an unprecedented emergency on the homelessness crisis, Mayor Karen Bass has driven change in how we address homelessness with new initiatives to bring people living in encampments inside. She has also worked to prevent people from losing their homes and to lock arms across all levels of government to move people inside and save lives and restore neighborhoods.
Key results from the 2024 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count:
Homelessness in the City of Los Angeles is down for the first time in six years
Unprecedented drop in street homelessness (10% decrease in the City of Los Angeles – the first double digit decrease in the last at least 9 years)
A decrease in makeshift shelters (38% decrease in the City of Los Angeles).
The number of people who moved into permanent housing is at an all time high.
In 2023, tent encampments came down in every council district, and thousands more Angelenos came inside than in 2022 thanks to action locking arms with the City Council, County and LAHSA. The Mayor has worked to improve services provided for unhoused Angelenos coming inside and has also been vocal about the need to make homelessness programs more cost effective as this urgent work continues.