The Los Angeles County homeless population has grown over 12 percent in one year according to the 2020 Homeless Count conducted in January before the coronavirus outbreak, officials said.

As a whole, the homeless population in Los Angeles County has grown 12.7 percent since 2019, with an estimated 66,433 people without housing countywide, according to the point-in-time 2020 Homeless Count conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

In the 2019 count, Santa Clarita has 256 individuals experiencing homelessness, a number that local leaders do not believe is accurate. An updated number for Santa Clarita based on the 2020 count is expected to be released later this year.

“LAHSA does not like these numbers because we know first-hand that we have done so much to increase the effectiveness of our systems and bring tens of thousands of people inside,” said Heidi Marston, executive director of LAHSA. “This year’s results reinforce that our community must address the deep-rooted causes within larger safety net systems that stop people from falling into homelessness.”

The report captures a picture of homelessness in Los Angeles County as it was in January 2020, the time of this year’s Homeless Count, and before the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic could be felt, measured, or responded to through efforts such as Project Roomkey, rent freezes and eviction moratoriums, according to the county.

In April, California launched Project Room Key, which housed over 6,000 of those experiencing homelessness in hotels and motels amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the LAHSA.

“With unprecedented speed, our system has sheltered 6,010 of our most vulnerable in the past three months alone as part of our COVID-19 response,” LAHSA officials said. “Now, our focus is moving the 15,000 most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness, and including all Project Roomkey residents, into permanent housing.”

In March, Bridge to Home, Santa Clarita’s now year-round shelter, moved to a temporary facility at the Newhall Community Center off of Railroad Avenue to encourage a six-foot social distance between residents.

See Related: Bridge To Home Shelter Moves To Larger, Temporary Location At Newhall Community Center 

L.A. County needs 509,000 new affordable housing units to meet current demand, according to the study, with wages also not keeping up with the increase of rent.

The count breaks down the increases in homelessness by demographic, with the elderly over the age of 62 seeing a 20 percent increase.

“Seniors have been a focus during the COVID-19 crisis, with 1,953 seniors sheltered through Project Roomkey over the past three months,” according to the LAHSA.

Roughly 16 percent of the 12,050 unsheltered seniors from 2020 have been sheltered through Project Room Key, according to the report.

Additionally, 4,673 transition-aged youth, between the ages of 18-24, experienced homelessness, which is up from 3,926 last year across the county, the report said.

The veteran population in Los Angeles County saw the smallest increase of about 0.6 percent. Officials say that this may be due in part to the fact that this population has received the biggest boost in federal, state and local investment over the past decade, according to the LAHSA.

Unsheltered families saw a large increase of about 45.7 percent since 2019, in part, due to more efforts made to reach more unsheltered families. Last year there were 80 surveys, this year there were 180, creating a new, more accurate baseline for unsheltered families, according to the agency.

Three years into the 10-year investment from Measure H, L.A. County’s homeless services system has doubled the number of annual housing placements, according to the LAHSA.

Measure H, passed by L.A. County voters in 2017, is expected to generate about $266 million for homeless support services each year — funded exclusively from a quarter-percent sales tax increase, according to county officials.

The measure is set to fund homeless support services including mental health, substance abuse treatment, health care, education, job training and case management.

“The information obtained provides a snapshot of who is experiencing homelessness and where they are located,” said Mayor Cameron Smyth in a statement earlier this year. “The results of the annual count give us a starting point to measure the progress of our efforts toward ending homelessness. It also helps the amount of Measure H and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds that should be allocated to local homeless programs. The count also helps us better coordinate our local programs and services to maximize impact.”

Updated figures from the 2020 Homeless Count for Santa Clarita are expected to be released in the coming weeks, according to the LAHSA.

“There is not one simple solution to end homelessness, but by working together, we can make progress to help those who need it most,” Smyth said.

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