Los Angeles County is grappling with a homelessness crisis unlike any other in the United States, according to a recent report by McKinsey & Company, an international consulting firm that tracks social and economic trends.
The March report highlights that by the time Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympic Games, the number of people experiencing homelessness could exceed 100,000 if current trends continue.
And every day, the homeless population in the county increases by another 20 people.
A homeless encampment in Los Angeles on Jan 27, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)If this proportion holds, more than 10,000 children could be homeless by the time of the 2028 Olympic Games, the report noted, as 10 percent of the homeless population are minors.
In the early days of the Los Angeles City election cycle, Mayor Karen Bass said during one of the debates that she believes “when the Olympics comes in 2028 and I’m mayor, there won’t be encampments.”
With an estimated population of 69,000 homeless people countywide, Los Angeles has surpassed New York—which held the helm for most homeless people in the country—to become the largest homeless population in the nation, the report found, and the crisis is still growing.
In the City of LA, there are around 42,000 homeless, according to the 2022 point-in-time count. This is up two percent from 2020.
The city’s budget to address homelessness has swollen from $100 million in 2015 to $1 billion in 2021, while the homeless population and tent encampments keep rising.
A view of housing units at the Tarzana Tiny Home Village which offers temporary housing for homeless people, is seen in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles on July 9, 2021. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)Bass just allocated $1.3 billion of the city’s 2023-2024 budget to addressing homelessness through building more housing and purchasing hotels and motels. But not all agree with the move, citing a greater need to address mental illness and substance abuse before housing.
Even as some homeless are brought indoors, more appear on the streets, as “on average, for every 207 individuals who exit homelessness daily, 227 more enter—including roughly 16 individuals who return to homelessness after six months,” the report read.
And despite major federal funding increases to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA)—the lead agency dealing with the homeless crisis, which saw funding rise nearly 13-fold from $63 million in the 2014-2015 financial year to about $808 million in 2022—the number of people experiencing homelessness in LA County has continued to rise by 56 percent during the same period.
The rate of homelessness increased by approximately 56 percent from 2015 to 2022, in stark contrast to New York City, which has seen an 18 percent decline in homelessness over the same period. New York City currently has about 68,000 homeless people.
The consequences of homelessness in LA are dire, with an average of more than five people experiencing homelessness losing their lives every day, according to the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. If the current mortality rate of people experiencing homelessness continues, the report estimates an additional 16,000 deaths by 2028.
The report also highlights that more than 40 percent—or approximately 29,000 people—are chronically homeless, meaning an individual experiences long-term or repeated episodes of homelessness typically lasting for a year or more.
This population—which the report notes are “six times more likely” to be mentally ill—requires more spending on support services due to physical disabilities and substance use disorders, which further exacerbate the crisis. Bass’s city budget allocates roughly $24 million to substance abuse treatment beds.
A homeless individual in Los Angeles, Calif., on Jan 27, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)Homeless in LA County are highly likely to die from fentanyl overdoses, up from 27 percent before the COVID-19 pandemic to 45 percent after the onset of the pandemic, according to the report.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, drug overdoses caused more fatalities among the homeless than the next three largest causes of death combined, including coronary heart disease, COVID-19, and traffic injuries.
Finding a solution has proven no easy feat, as there may be too much bureaucracy when it comes to the county’s decision-making over how to handle the crisis—with 88 cities and over 550 elected officials—according to the report.
Additionally, LA County’s large geographic footprint further hampers efforts to effectively address the homelessness crisis, with its size being larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
Social activists, including a coalition of homeless-serving organizations, homeless residents and supporters rally at the start of a 24-hour vigil to block a planned shutdown of a homeless encampment at Echo Lake Park in Los Angeles, California, on March 24, 2021, ahead of a half million-dollar cleanup and repair effort by the city due to begin early on March 25. (Frederic J. Brown /AFP via Getty Images)The report’s solution, however, looks in part for the support of local businesses.
According to the report, the private sector, which employs nearly 88 percent of the workforce in the county, should prioritize hiring homeless people, since the majority of the homeless population in Los Angeles have had prior employment.
It’s unclear if Bass’s office will change its plan for how to address the homeless population when the Olympics draw near.