Los Angeles County kicks off 2026 homeless count amid funding uncertainty

Thousands of volunteers will fan out across Los Angeles County Tuesday night, Jan. 20, to conduct the nation’s largest count of people living unsheltered.

The annual snapshot comes at a particularly complicated moment, shaped by heightened uncertainty over immigration enforcement, friction between state and local governments and the federal government, and renewed scrutiny over how homeless data is collected and used.

The 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, led by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), will take place Jan 20 – 22, across nearly all of Los Angeles County. (Los Angeles’s Homeless Count covers all of the county except for Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena, which conduct their own counts.)

The point-in-time count is designed to estimate how many people are experiencing homelessness — data that plays a central role in guiding funding decisions and shaping policy debates at City Hall, the county Board of Supervisors and beyond.

“The Homeless Count is a critical tool for understanding homelessness across Los Angeles County and for ensuring our response is rooted in equity,” Los Angeles County Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis said in a statement Monday. “Reliable data allows us to direct housing, health care, and supportive services to the communities that need them most and to measure whether our investments are truly making a difference.”

Last year’s count, which was postponed for about a month because of wildfires, showed modest but notable declines. According to LAHSA, homelessness fell 4% countywide in 2025 to an estimated 72,308 people, while the City of LA recorded a 3.4% decline to 43,699. Unsheltered homelessness dropped more sharply, decreasing 9.5% countywide and 7.9% within the city. Over the past two years, unsheltered homelessness has declined by 14% across the county and 17.5% in the city, LAHSA reported.

This year’s count comes at a time of increased uncertainty for the region’s homelessness response. In recent months, immigration enforcement activity under the Trump administration in Los Angeles has increased fear in immigration communities and disrupted jobs and income for some families, factors that experts say can contribute to housing instability.

At the same time, housing and service providers have warned that funding streams face growing uncertainty, raising concerns that cuts at the federal, state and local levels could undermine recent progress.

Local leaders also remain divided over responsibility, strategy and accountability for addressing homelessness.

Los Angeles County has created a new Department of Homeless Services and Housing, a move intended to consolidate what critics have long described as a fragmented system and to reduce administrative costs at LAHSA. County leaders paired the new department with voter-approved sales tax funding, pitching the changes as a way to accelerate placements into shelter and housing.

But officials now face headwinds, including lower-than-expected revenue growth, higher housing costs and the prospect of state and federal funding cuts, prompting warnings that service reductions could follow.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles city leaders have explored shifting some homelessness funding away from LAHSA and toward direct contracts with the county, even as Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program continues to face scrutiny over cost and effectiveness. The city and county are also defending against an ongoing lawsuit brought by the LA Alliance for Human Rights, which alleges failures in addressing the crisis.

Against that backdrop, LAHSA officials say they’re aiming to make this year’s count smoother for volunteers and more reliable for decision-makers.

“LAHSA is continuously looking for ways to execute the Homeless Count more efficiently and provide better data that gives decision-makers the insights needed to end homelessness faster,” LAHSA Interim Chief Executive Officer Gita O’Neill said in a statement last week announcing preparations for the count.

The count will again rely on app-based data collection, a system LAHSA says captured 100% of responses last year, along with updated digital maps and added technical support at deployment sites. Additional outreach teams will also be deployed in hard-to-reach areas such as basins, creeks and desert regions, which are often unsafe or inaccessible for community volunteers.

LAHSA has also updated its housing inventory and youth count methodologies, including adopting a respondent-driven sampling approach for youth count and extending the survey period to improve participation and representation.

The unsheltered count begins Tuesday night in the San Fernando Valley and metro Los Angeles, followed by the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles on Wednesday, and wraps up Thursday in the Antelope Valley, West and South Los Angeles, as well as the South Bay and Harbor areas.

Preliminary results are expected to be released in late spring or early summer 2026.