The West Hollywood City Council addressed the city’s housing and homelessness crisis and received an update on its five-year anti-homelessness plan at its June 21 meeting. The discussion took place against the backdrop of mounting concern over the end of state eviction protections and a possible wave of evictions.
Los Angeles County has the single largest population of unhoused people in the country. Even with increased attention and a 2017 voter initiative set to generate $3.5 billion over 10 years to help the issue, the population of unhoused individuals has continued to grow and the county’s housing stock remains far below what’s needed. In 2016, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) homelessness count documented around 47,000 people without housing. In 2020, the most recent data available, LAHSA counted a staggering 66,436 people. The 2021 count did not take place due to COVID-19 safety concerns.
