Los Angeles homeless count raises doubts about accuracy. Is it time for a new way?

Jose Luis Camargo washes a skillet outside his camp under an elevated ramp linking the 110 to the 105 Freeway in Los Angeles. “I just don’t think a point-in-time count makes sense of really helping people,” said Connie Brooks, a Venice resident who participates in the unofficial counts that consistently show more than 200 homeless people in the area. “I feel like we’re basically doing the same thing as the count but doing it in a systematic way, with well-trained teams that are doing it consistently over time.” Ward said he was surprised that LAHSA had not flagged the Venice count as a problem when it showed that the number of unsheltered people had dropped from 509 to 0. The botched Venice numbers may take some shine off the 38.5% decrease that Councilman Mike Bonin, in a celebratory tweet, credited to “the largest and most successful place-based homelessness intervention programs in Los Angeles, moving nearly 300 people indoors from tents on Venice Beach and in Westchester Park.” Adding the 250 to 300 people missed in the Venice count would leave Bonin’s district with a still-impressive 29% improvement. “That’s the end state we want to get to — that communities have at their fingertips at any point in time how many people are experiencing homelessness,” Built for Zero Director Beth Sandor said.