decreased by 9.5%. In the past two years, that dropped by 14%. Just in the city of L.A., unsheltered homeless numbers fell by 7.9%, but over two years that was down by 17.5%.

The count also includes those who are homeless but living in temporary housing, such as shelters, motel or hotel rooms, as well as those in permanent, stable housing. The count found sheltered people rose by 8.5%.

“With two consecutive years of reductions, reducing homelessness is now a trend in L.A. city and L.A. County,” said Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which conducted the count. LAHSA is a joint-powers agency with the city of L.A. and the county.

“This is very good news,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. “For the first time in our city’s recent history, homelessness has gone down two years in a row.

“Obviously we have a lot more to do,” she added.

Bass credited the team working on the Inside Safe Program, which moves people from encampments mostly into hotel and motel rooms. While she had been criticized for not moving these people into permanent housing, she said that was improving.

“Permanent housing placements are at an all-time high,” Bass said. “Lives are being saved, and neighborhoods are beginning to heal.

“But are there still encampments?” she said. “Yes. Is reducing homelessness by housing people in motels and hotels still expensive? Yes. But all of this are steps forward.”

L.A. County 3rd District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who has been critical of LAHSA and led the charge to essentially replace LAHSA with a county-run homeless agency, called the numbers progress as the county, city and LAHSA efforts made a dent in the problem.

“But 72,308 people are still living without permanent shelter,” Horvath said in an emailed response. “We can, and must, do more. At this pace, it would take three centuries to end homelessness in Los Angeles County. Every day, seven lives are being lost on our streets — an unacceptable reality that demands bold, coordinated action.”

The 2025 count took place Feb. 18-20. It was delayed about five weeks because of the January fires in Pacific Palisades, Pasadena and Altadena.

It was the largest point-in-time homeless count in the United States and is an annual requirement of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The count helps determine funding each region will receive.

According to LAHSA, 5,800 volunteers took part in the February count, which covered 4,000 square miles in 3,249 census tracts.

Volunteers fanned out across the county in groups of two or three, equipped with the Quick Capture application on their phones. Volunteers input what they saw in categories that included families, children under 18, adults aged 18 to 24, or adults over 24. They also noted if people had a dwelling, such as a car, van, tent or shelter.

“The Count provides greater insight into homelessness across the Los Angeles region and helps policymakers deliver programs and services where they are needed most,” LAHSA said in a statement.

While the leaders of LAHSA and the city of L.A. touted successes, Horvath said future progress lies in the new L.A. County homeless agency.

In April, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to establish its own homeless agency that will funnel money from newly adopted Measure A away from LAHSA. On July 8, the board hired Sarah Mahin to run the department. While LAHSA will continue conducting the annual count and provide some homeless housing services, its role will be limited.

The Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services and Housing is responsible for spending $1 billion in annual taxpayer funds emanating from the new county homeless services initiative Measure A, a half-cent sales tax passed by voters in November. It replaced Measure H, the one-quarter cent homeless services sales tax. New tax revenues from Measure A began April 1.

Also, the new county department will stop sending $350 million to LAHSA annually and instead will use those funds to seed its own department. The agency is expected to be fully operational by Jan. 1, with all funding pulled from LAHSA and transferred to the new county department by July 1, 2026.

“We’re moving forward even as federal resources decline,” Horvath wrote. “With deep cuts to housing and health programs, our local dollars must go further — and this new department gives us the structure to do exactly that: stretch limited resources, track outcomes, and put care where it’s needed most.”

The county department for homeless services was part of a major break with LAHSA and resulted in the resignation of Adams Kellum, who has only a short time left on the job. For the past few years, LAHSA had been plagued with audits that found poor bookkeeping that included an inability to pay contractors and not being able to keep track of open beds.

LAHSA officials have disputed some of the findings of recent audits and urged county officials to continue their partnership. The agency said it has begun efforts to bolster transparency through the creation of 20 new databases, which better track available shelter beds and outcomes of services, among other things.

The agency also touted improvements in contracting and ensuring timely payments to service providers.

Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale do their own homeless counts and are not part of the LAHSA count.

Long Beach has increased the number of chronically homeless people it helped find shelter but still saw a 6.5% increase in the overall population this year compared with 2024, according to the results of the city’s annual point-in-time tally of those without permanent shelter. The increase was mainly because of the impact of those displaced by the Los Angeles wildfires in January.

The homeless population in Pasadena fell slightly in 2024, but the number of newly homeless was on the rise, according to the results of the city’s annual count. All told, the results offered troubling patterns in the wake of the Eaton fire, which displaced thousands. According to the results, 270 of the 1,047 who were counted were “newly unhoused,” meaning they lost their shelter within the 12 months prior to engaging with homeless services.

Staff writers Ryan Carter and Kristy Hutchings contributed to this report.