Pasadena, County and City of Los Angeles Kick Off 2024 Homeless Counts

Pasadena will mirror the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Tuesday evening when both kick off day one of their 2024 homeless counts, in an effort to capture a point-in-time snapshot of the homelessness crisis impacting the region.

In Pasadena, this year’s count will take place from 8 to 10 p.m. on Jan. 23, and 6 to 8 a.m. on Jan. 24. The responsible organization, the Pasadena Partnership, is mobilizing over 30 trained teams of 4 or 5 volunteers each to cover assigned zones. The last count in 2023 identified approximately 556 homeless residents in Pasadena.

Separately, the County’s effort, called the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, is expected to occur over a three-day period. Thousands of volunteers are expected to spread out across the 4,000 square miles of L.A. County to conduct the count. Traveling in small groups, volunteers will tally the number of unsheltered individuals, tents, vehicles, and make-shift shelters they see in their assigned Census tract.

Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of LAHSA, is expected to host a news conference in North Hollywood alongside Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and other city and county officials. Federal partners Jason Pu, regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Helene Schneider, senior regional advisor for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, are expected to join as well.

Prior to send-off, volunteers will receive their count materials and a brief training. The annual homeless count will begin Tuesday night, starting in the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.

On Wednesday, volunteers will be sent out in West L.A., Southeast L.A. and the South Bay area. On the final night, Thursday, counters will travel around the Antelope Valley, Metro L.A. and South L.A.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a biennial point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness, according to LAHSA.

The 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count revealed a 9% year-over- year increase in homelessness in the county, and a 10% rise in the city. The data showed 75,518 people experienced homelessness in the county, and 46,260 in the city of Los Angeles, an increase from 69,144 in the County, and 41,980 in the City of Los Angeles from 2022.