Mobile phones give researchers a deeper look into living homeless in L.A.

A homeless encampment in MacArthur Park encroaches on the sidewalk at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street in Los Angeles. Their goal is to fill what they describe as a “near-total lack of comprehensive, high-quality evidence on the well-being, needs, or desires of the unhoused community” that pervades “every stage of L.A.’s emerging homelessness crisis — and the increasingly reactive response from policymakers.” A preliminary report released Wednesday by USC’s Homeless Policy Research Institute gives a qualified assessment of their success. “The best approach is you spend 15 minutes doing the demo survey and build a certain rapport.” The mobile phone survey, formally the Periodic Assessment of Trajectories of Housing, Homelessness and Health Study or PATHS, is part of a growing body of academic and nonprofit work aimed at addressing the inadequacies of the large count mandated every two years by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development but conducted annually in many places, including Los Angeles. “To me the PIT count is another data point in a year-round story.” “It’s a community involvement endeavor as much as anything else,” Henwood said. “A lot of time the respondent would say, ‘I wish you were asking me questions that are more interesting,’” Kuhn said.