Homeless camps in Hollywood and Venice were significantly reduced last year, but the “rough” numbers without tents, vehicles or temporary shelters have stabilized, increasing the likelihood that future earnings are difficult to maintain, a new rand report.
The total number of homeless people without shelter has fallen by 15% in three areas of Rand's study, the first decline since the project began in 2021. But the decline in Hollywood's 49% and Venice's 22% were increased by 9% by Skid Row.
The authors of the report noted that public policies could have positive effects that have added permanent and temporary housing, especially Mayor Karen Bass’ internal security plans, but found that those who stayed present greater challenges.
“Rough” sleep accounts for 40% of this unprotected population in December 2024.
“Tent homes are no longer the typical way to live homeless in Los Angeles,” said lead author Louis Abramson.
“We see this photo that does seem to have made real progress in bringing people to the streets, but people who are still on the streets are the most vulnerable,” Abramson said. “The trends of keen indicators are not the same as those of the numbers. People’s health, well-being and connectivity are not improving and are deteriorating in some ways.”
The report is the third annual report released by the Los Angeles Vertical Enumeration and Demographic Survey (LA Leads), which is conducted by the Rand Center for Housing and Homelessness.
These findings are consistent with preliminary results from the 2025 time count released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency in March. Based on the original count, the agency’s homeless people expect the decline at the county level to be between 5% and 10%.
Lahsa announced on Monday that it will release its final results for July 14.
Rand's report examined more in-depth areas of three local hotspots deemed homeless. The researchers returned every two months to track changes over time. They counted individual tents, vehicles, temporary shelters, and people fell asleep. Using a method similar to Lahsa, they estimated the number of people occupying each type of shelter to calculate the total population.
The report found that “good reasons” link Hollywood's huge decline to a series of internal security operations that took place there last year, but the record in Venice is less clear, which also declined without any large internal security operations. The impact of law enforcement under City Article 41.18 is not clear. The report found that under the ordinance, an estimated 12% of the Skid Row population was cited, but the homeless population in the area increased.
“So, crediting changes in homeless people who do nothing to specific plans, or understanding the relationship between these changes and newcomers’ inflows – ask for more research,” the authors wrote.
Another factor in Hollywood's dramatic improvements could be the efforts of the Los Angeles County mental health pilot program “Hollywood 2.0,” which helped bring county mental health services to the area, coordinated outreach activities, is the power to open two new housing projects, a 50-bed reciprocal indoor shelter and a 90-bed board and caregiver.
“I think Hollywood 2.0 is a strong contribution to the reduction in Usheltered Homelessnes,” Brittney Weissman said. Executive Director of Hollywood 4Wrd, the project for community engagement.
A concomitant population survey found disturbing trends associated with the growth of “rough” sleep. Respondents reported a shorter number of living in the same location. The report says the finding is consistent with “the increase in sanitation facilities and other camp solutions (most commonly in Hollywood) that either do nothing while moving indoors or shift regularly leaving behind a more transient, mobile and dynamic crowd.”
Overall, 91% of respondents in all three regions expressed interest, but only 38% reported being on the waitlist. Only 13% reported providing support housing, while 39% received group shelter. Less than 50% accepted.
People aged 62 and over and those who earn less than $99 a month are much less likely to find housing than younger people or higher incomes.
The report highlights the differences between these three areas.
Venetians reported slightly higher education rates for social security, disability benefits and income, and were more likely to be employed.
Compared to other fields, Skid Row's useless population tends to be older, female and black. They reported that the likelihood of working was less likely to report mental health, physical health and medication use disorders, and were more likely to stay in the same location for three years or more, and were less likely to be forced by law enforcement or residents of residence. Of the remaining tent camps, 80% are in the gliding row.
The authors make two suggestions: To maintain a positive trend, policy makers should continue to prioritize and simplify the creation of permanent housing. And, they need new strategies for changing demographics.
As clients become more mobile and vulnerable, camp-based housing plans will become increasingly lower, so the trend of insufficient sleep may further exacerbate the damage to service providers and outreach teams.
Although sleep deprivation remained stable last year, it has risen in the three years of study.
“There are some strategies that get people out of the streets successfully,” Abramson said. “But for these other groups, it seems like we need to develop specific strategies that are not currently in the toolkit.”
