Los Angeles officials are “stunned” by a report that shows homelessness has increased by a large percentage even after the beleaguered city spent millions to try to alleviate the epidemic.
“Last year’s count, we felt we were trimming in a way that would suggest we were getting our arms around this,” said Los Angeles Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said to the Los Angeles Times.
“And yet this year we are pretty well stunned by this data,” he added.
The new count of homeless people puts the number at 59,000 in Los Angeles County, and 36,000 in the city of Los Angeles — that represents an increase year-over-year of a whopping 16 percent.
Officials were encouraged by the report last year which showed a small decrease in the population of homeless people. That hope has been dashed to the rocks by the current year’s statistics. – READ MORE