Homelessness increased in the last year in the city and county of Los Angeles, leaving nearly 47,000 people in the streets and shelters despite an intensive federal push that slashed the ranks of homeless veterans by nearly a third, according to figures released Wednesday by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Nearly two-thirds of the homeless people tallied countywide, or 28,000, were in the city of Los Angeles, representing an 11% jump in January from a year earlier, a report from the agency stated. The county's homeless population grew 5.7%.
Homelessness has increased steadily since 2013, as local officials struggle to identify funding for billion-dollar plans they approved this year to solve one of the region's most intractable problems.
The number of homeless women across most of the county — Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena are counted separately — has jumped 55% since 2013, to 14,461 from 9,348.
In that same area, the most visible form of homelessness — tents, shantytowns and vehicles with people living in them — climbed 20%, on top of an 85% jump in 2015.
“I've been predicting the problem was going to get worse before it got better,” City Councilman Mike Bonin said.
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