Volunteers tally South LA’s homeless, counting one by one



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Homeless Count volunteers show their certificates of completion. | Stephanie Monte

Instead of the usual dinner and birthday cake, Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker spent her birthday in a more altruistic way: She gathered a group of family and friends to volunteer for the biennial Homeless Count on Thursday night. The “Happy Birthday Jackie” group joined nearly 100 volunteers at Holman United Methodist Church, one of South L.A.’s deployment sites for the count. This South L.A. contingent represented a fraction of the 6,000 volunteers who gathered data on the city’s homeless population over three days under the supervision of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

“We want to be a part of the 2015 revived mission to eliminate homelessness,” Dupont-Walker said. “We think this is a part of it.”

L.A.’s Homeless Count is the nation’s largest program taking a headcount of people living on the streets. L.A.’s homeless population is second in size only to the homeless population of New York City.

Homelessness in South L.A. is more common than any other part of the county. The 2013 Homeless Count tallied more than 11,000 homeless people in South L.A. Six of the seven other districts counted a significantly smaller homeless population, with estimates ranging from 2,500 homeless to 8,000. Service Planning Area 4, Metro Los Angeles including Skid Row, with about 10,500 homeless individuals was the only area with an estimate similar to South L.A.’s Area 6. [Read more…]