2023 Homeless Count: How We Count and Calculate the Annual Estimate

Every year, LAHSA, the lead agency for the Los Angeles Continuum of Care, performs the largest annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count in the United States. After the conclusion of the counting, LAHSA partners with USC to comb through the data and calculate the annual estimate of people experiencing homelessness in the greater Los Angeles area.

LAHSA looks to take lessons learned from the previous year’s homeless count to improve the count each year. In order to better understand the 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, let’s take a look at some of the updates LAHSA made to the data collection process that separates this year’s count from prior years.

What Didn’t Change

But before we get into that, here’s what didn’t change: the homeless count data is important because it informs policies and strategies to end homelessness. In addition, LA’s data contributes to the statewide and national understanding of homelessness.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandates that regions nationwide, known as Continuums of Care, perform homeless counts every two years. Los Angeles counts annually because the scale of the homelessness crisis demands more recent data so elected officials can craft policies that address the crisis better. HUD also mandates how LAHSA and other Continuums of Care conduct the homeless count.

It’s important to note that the count is an imprecise estimate. It includes specific numbers like the number of people in shelter and the number of visible people on the street. But it also includes statistical estimates from volunteers’ observation of dwellings like vehicles, tents, and other makeshift shelters that could house our unsheltered neighbors. Since volunteers do not approach these dwellings, LAHSA’s partners at USC use a statistical method known as a multiplier to estimate the number of people living in dwellings.

While the count goes through extensive quality control to provide a countywide view, it is designed to provide an estimate of people experiencing homelessness across the Continnum of Care. It is not a useful guide to city, elected district, or neighborhood-level homelessness.

The Updates for 2023

As far as 2023’s changes go, LAHSA and data partner USC sought to take lessons learned from previous years to strengthen data quality in several ways:

• We improved quality assurance at deployment sites, simplified volunteer training, and improved count quality through a new digital app.
• We hired a demographer and data scientist to optimize how we count and analyze data.
• To improve the volunteer experience, LAHSA replaced the counting app used in 2022 with one built by a vendor with years of experience developing apps for homeless counts nationwide.

This resulted in better data quality than ever before as we continue to refine and improve our approach in the interest of a more accurate count with greater stakeholder involvement.

LAHSA also implemented a quality assurance process that included the following:

• LAHSA provided volunteers with backup paper maps and tally sheets and checked volunteers in and out of their counts.
• Volunteers could see their data submissions in the app, and the deployment site coordinator had access to a real-time dashboard.
• Data collected on paper by volunteers who did not use the app was entered into an electronic tally sheet survey form and photographed to ensure the data was included in the final count.
• When data was not submitted by noon the day following the count, the tract was considered uncounted, and LAHSA staff deployed make-up teams to count it.

Finally, LAHSA asked for and received permission from HUD to conduct youth and family surveys by phone in addition to in person. This new tactic led to increased completed surveys for both populations, leading to more accurate insights in 2023.

The 2023 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count data can be found here.