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A homeless man wearing a facemask lies on grass while watching his phone in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles on May 21, 2020 . ©AFP/File Apu GOMES

The number of homeless people in Los Angeles County rose sharply by nearly 13 percent over the previous year, according to an annual count released Friday and conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the US.

The count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authorities (LAHSA) showed 66,433 people experiencing homelessness in the county — a 12.7 percent rise from last year.

The number was even higher in the city of Los Angeles, with 41,290 people experiencing homelessness, a 13.6 percent rise over 2019.

The steep increases reflect a worsening crisis that for years has dogged one of the richest states in the country, despite millions of dollars allocated to deal with the problem.

Statewide, California has some 150,000 homeless people, the largest number in the United States.

The crisis has become even more visible during the pandemic as people sheltered in their homes because of lockdowns and homeless encampments spread on sidewalks, suburban neighborhoods and highway overpasses.

“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.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the homeless count was a reminder that “the crisis is worsening, even as we continue to house more people at an unprecedented rate.”

He urged federal authorities to contribute even more to battle the crisis especially as concerns “black and brown homeless Angelenos who have been neglected for too long.”

LAHSA said one of the key reasons driving the rise in homelessness is high rents and a lack of affordable housing that has left many people without a permanent roof over their head.

“Homelessness starts rising when median rents in a region exceed 22 percent of median income and rises even more sharply at 32 percent,” it said in a statement. “In Los Angeles, the median rent is 46.7 percent or nearly half of median income.”

It added that in order to meet current demand, the county needs 509,000 units of affordable housing.

“We can settle for nothing less than ending homelessness for those who experience it and stopping it before it begins for anyone else,” Marston said. 

“That requires us to increase our housing supply. It requires us to transform our foster care, health care, criminal justice, and other systems to stop them from pushing people into homelessness. 

“And it required us to dismantle the legacy of racism that still shapes our region’s vast inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity.”

(AFP)

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.