This was my home on Radcliffe on January 9. Notice there are still buildings burning.
It’s time for LAHSA’s Homeless Point in Time Count. The LAHSA (Los Angeles Housing Service Authority) annually corrals a bunch of volunteers and over three days, they count the number of people who are living in tents or in their vehicles or other makeshift shelters in Los Angeles.
Well, they don’t actually count them, because to respect the homeless’ privacy, (even though they may be on a public sidewalk), one doesn’t actually look inside to see if there is one, two or three people, you just mark “one tent” on the app (when it is working). Basically, no one really knows the true number of homeless in Los Angeles.
I’ve counted the homeless in Pacific Palisades, since the PIT started in 2015 when there were 70 homeless tents, 74 in makeshift shelters and 54 in cars/RVs. Eight years later, there were no tents or shelters reported, and the number of homeless living in vehicles, mostly along Pacific Coast Highway and Palisades Drive, totaled about 30.
Last year was a problem because LAHSA did not want the Palisades Homeless Task Force to count certain areas, such as along PCH, where there are typically the largest number of homeless. Why? Maybe LAHSA needed lower numbers to show they were effective?
But, as I’ve done every year since 2015, I signed up in December for the count that was to be held on January 23, 2025. The Palisades Fire on January 7, delayed the homeless count to February 18 to 20.
On February 16, I received a cheery phone call to remind me that I had signed up to count the homeless this year.
I responded, “I’m homeless. Do I count?” There was a small silence before the woman said “the counting will take place and . . .”
Then I interrupted, “the biggest homeless population right now is Pacific Palisades, with about 23,000 people displaced. I can count them. On my block I can tell you all the people that lost their homes – I can tell you everyone on the other side of the street, too.
“Are you going to count them?” I asked.
I added “Or are the only homeless that matter, the drug addicts and the mentally insane? What about the homeless that have been destroyed by the City and County’s lack of planning and lack of resources, such as water in fire hydrants?”
This homeless individual will be counted. Will those displaced from the fire be counted?
Then she said, “We have to stop calling people in the Palisades,” wished me good night and hung up.
Since January 7, the people in the Palisades are homeless, we have moved in with relatives and friends and found apartments, but we are homeless.
Tim Campbell, who has been auditing homeless spending, provided me with these numbers: The City has a budget of $1 billion for the homeless. The City Controller found that the Inside Safe program (Mayor Karen Bass’ signature program) served 3,782 people for a cost of $90,639 per person. It housed 837 people, for a cost of $409,554 per person.
Even more insulting is a story that ran in the Westside Current, LAHSA tried to get FEMA money intended for fire victims for the City’s Homeless. (“LAHSA Taps FEMA for Wildfire Aid Despite Massive Budget.”)
The Palisades Homeless should receive some of the quarter-cent sales tax that is currently charged on all items that is supposed to go to support people currently experiencing homelessness – THAT’S US. With the passage of Measure A to a half-cent sales tax for the homeless, Palisades residents certainly qualify and should also receive some of that funding.
In the 2021-22 fiscal year, California spent $7.2 billion on homelessness, which was about $42,000 per homeless individual. And Governor Gavin Newsom announced in October 2024 that $40 billion is invested to help communities create more housing.
With most of the residents “under water” since their prime asset was destroyed, here’s the Governor’s chance to make up to the “new homeless” the difference between what insurance will pay and the cost of constructing a new home.
And, no, for the first time I won’t be on the streets counting the homeless this year, I can just walk down my former block on Radcliffe and see how many homes are destroyed and people displaced.
Sue – congratulations on this excellent reporting. I read the whole thing out loud to Joe & he had no idea about the negligence that occurred on the 8th. I knew a little from earlier reporting. I took the liberty of forwarding this the the (lowly) reporter I spoke to who writes for the NYT, hoping the paper may want to interview you. KUTGW! (keep up the good work). xxxx Pepper