According to the results of the county’s homeless count earlier this year, the crisis has worsened over the past year.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) announced Wednesday that volunteers tallied 46,874 individuals experiencing homelessness in January – a 6 percent increase in the county, and 11 percent in the city over last year.

The unsheltered population in the city increased by 21 percent.

Council District 13 saw a 34 percent increase, from 2,270 to 3,036 individuals counted. Council District 5 saw a 4 percent increase. Council District 4 did not show a significant increase, with 628 counted this year and 625 last year.

LAHSA pinned the increase partly on an affordable housing gap in Los Angeles County. Last year, the California Housing Partnership found that 18 percent of county residents meet the federal poverty measure, but when housing costs are factored, poverty rates jump to 27 percent. The rental vacancy rate in the region was 2.7 percent in the final quarter of 2015, down from 3.8 percent at the start of 2015.

“Los Angeles is facing a historic housing shortage, a staggering mental health crisis, and veterans are becoming homeless every day,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “I’ve called for a record $138 million in the city’s budget to support homeless services, build affordable housing and work with our county partners to confront our mental health crisis. In the short term, this investment will help double our LAHSA outreach teams, add needed storage facilities, grow access to restrooms and showers and expand our Coordinated Entry System to get more people connected to services and off the street for good.”

The results of the count will help city and county officials leverage state and federal funds to help pay for solutions. In January, the city and county approved comprehensive strategies and are working on ways to fund them.

“Our efforts through the city and county of Los Angeles Comprehensive Homeless Strategies represent a momentous time of collaboration and cooperation in the region,” said Mike Neely, LAHSA commission chair. “With the proposed city and county funding around homelessness and tremendous new federal resources awarded to Los Angeles by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, we are poised to combat homelessness on a scale we have never experienced.”

The announcement came with good news for veterans experiencing homelessness – a number that fell by 30 percent in the county from 4,362 to 3,071 individuals this year. The rate of unsheltered veterans decreased by 44 percent.

“The results of LAHSA’s homeless count show that when we target our resources to help specific populations – such as homeless families and veterans – we get results and save lives,” Garcetti said.

Approximately 3,800 homeless veterans in the county were permanently housed in 2015.

“These figures prove that our strategic efforts are working,” Garcetti said.

The rate for family homelessness dropped by 18 percent as well. Approximately 2,390 homeless families were housed in 2015.

“Homelessness responds to resources,” said Peter Lynn, LAHSA executive director. “When we have systemically applied city, county and federal resources, we see results.”

Lynn stressed that results are just a point-in-time count and a “snapshot” of the county’s homelessness on one day. More than 7,500 people volunteered to conduct the homeless count and for the first time covered 100 percent of the census tract.

To view the 2016 Homeless Count results, including breakdowns by race, gender, age and other demographics, visit lahsa.org.

The next homeless count will take place at the end of January 2017.

“We need all hands on deck to tackle this crisis. Together with LAHSA, the county and our nonprofit partners, we will not rest until every Angeleno has a safe place to sleep at night, and the opportunity to build a productive life,” Garcetti said.