Los Angeles: A System That Barely Shelters The Homeless

Shelter Partnership, a nationally recognized Los Angeles-based research and resources agency, recently published a study—“An Assessment of Los Angeles County’s Emergency Shelter System.”

The findings are stark. Los Angeles County only has enough emergency shelter beds for 6% of its homeless population. With 91,000 people sleeping on L.A.’s streets, that figure is astounding. Compare this with Chicago where they shelter 67% of their homeless, and Washington D.C. where they shelter 55% of their people on the streets.

The study is a thorough document—141 pages and then dozens more pages of appendices. It was commissioned by the County of Los Angeles to study our existing Winter Shelter Programs, Year-Round Shelter Programs, and Access Centers.

Both the county and the city of Los Angeles have realized this glaring gap, and have recently committed millions of dollars more to provide more housing for our city’s homeless. It’s a great start.

As Shelter Partnership has recommended in their study, we now need bolder and more creative leadership in using a limited emergency shelter system to help more of our homeless population transition off the streets.

Here is the PDF file to the study:
Shelter Partnership: An Assessment of Los Angeles County's Emergency Shelter System.