On Wednesday, Jan. 23, a group of over 60 local volunteers, city staff, Beverly Hills police officers, the Beverly Hills Homeless Outreach Team and Beverly Hills ambassadors participated in the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.

(photo courtesy of the city of Beverly Hills)

The annual homeless count is part of a three-night countywide effort to understand and address the complexities of homelessness.

Count participants gathered in City Hall and were trained on count procedures, learned about homeless services in Beverly Hills and were deployed out to several census tracts covering the entire city. This year, a total of 16 homeless individuals, one RV and one car were counted by volunteers. This was a very similar number compared to last year’s count of 15 individuals, one van and one makeshift shelter.

While homeless count numbers have continued to rise throughout L.A. County each year, Beverly Hills homeless count numbers have continued to decrease; this year remaining steady with the 2018 count.

“We attribute this to innovative collaborations and partnerships,” said James Latta, Human Services administrator. “The city’s Human Services Division works with the Chronic Homeless Assistance Team, comprised of the city’s police and fire departments and the city prosecutor, to coordinate services and concentrate resources on the most severely ill homeless individuals who suffer from mental health, physical health and/or substance abuse.”

In addition to the annual count, Human Services, CLASP, the Police Department, park rangers and the ambassadors provide regular reports on homeless individuals in the city’s parks, parking structures, resident areas and business district to keep a pulse on homelessness throughout the year.