Los Angeles Coalition

Research
Briefto End Youth Homelessness

August 2015
April 2013 www.hhyp.org

The Greater Los Angeles Youth Count:

Why The Numbers Dont Add Up
WE CANT AFFORD TO HAVE YOUTH MISSING FROM THE ONLY NATIONAL
HOMELESS COUNT WE HAVE. Matthew Doherty, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness

As

part of the largest homeless census in the country,

the Greater Los Angeles Youth Count sought to
estimate the number of unaccompanied minors and young
adults experiencing homelessness throughout Los Angeles
County. With growing national attention focused on youth
counts, unprecedented local community involvement, and
commitments from the Los Angeles Homeless Services
Authoritys (LAHSA) leadership, the 2015 Youth Count
promised to be the most comprehensive and meaningful
youth count ever done in Los Angeles.

However, when results were submitted to the US

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),
only the Youth Shelter Count and Youth Street Count
were reported 3,369 youth instead of 6,150 youth.
None of the youth enumerated through the Youth
PIT Count were included in LAHSAs report. Thus,
instead of showing a 17% increase in the numbers of
homeless unaccompanied minors and young adults,
LAHSA reported a 36% decline!

Components of 2015 Greater Los Angeles Youth Count

Youth PIT
Count
2,781
(actual #)

Youth Shelter
Count
1,277
(actual #)

The Greater Los Angeles Youth Count has historically been

composed of three efforts. The first is a Youth Point in
Time (PIT) Count. This is a daytime count conducted by
currently and formerly homeless youth, outreach workers,
youth service providers, and volunteers that is designed
specifically to count youth in pre-identified hot spots.
The second component is a Sheltered Youth Count.
Agencies report to LAHSA the number of unaccompanied
minors and young adults staying in emergency shelters,
Safe Havens, or transitional housing projects on a particular
night. The third component is a Youth Street Count.
This number is an estimate of the unaccompanied minors
and young adults who were counted in the late evening as
part of the adult PIT count. Through these three efforts,
a total of 6,150 unaccompanied minors and young adults
experiencing homelessness were tallied, making the 2015
Greater Los Angeles Youth Count the largest and most
comprehensive Youth Count since its inception.

Youth Street
Count
2,092
(estimated #)

Total Youth
Count

6,150

What went wrong with the Greater Los Angeles

Youth Count? The homeless youth service provider
community and their advocates were stunned by the
omission of the Youth PIT Count numbers to HUD,
as they had been actively engaged in all aspects of the
youth count planning for over a year. This included:
1) 12 monthly meetings of the Los Angeles Coalition
to End Youth Homelessness (LACEYH) PIT Crew, a
subcommittee made up of 9 homeless youth serving
public and private agencies committed to working with

6,150

17%
1000

Homeless youth counted

Growth in the numbers
compared to 2013
Beds in Los Angeles specific
to homeless unaccompanied
minors and young adults

The Greater Los Angeles Youth Count: Why The Numbers Dont Add Up

LAHSA to improve Los Angeles Youth Point in Time (PIT)

Count; 2) assurances from LAHSAs former executive
director to adopt a youth-specific tool for conducting the
youth demographic survey and to include data collected
at schools from homeless student liaisons; 3) a rich array
of publications regarding best practices in youth counts;
and 4) LAHSA staff s participation in the PIT Crew and
PIT Crew participation in LAHSAs Homeless Youth Count
Advisory Committee. All of these efforts provided plenty of
opportunities to raise and address any concerns about the
Youth PIT Count or survey methodology. Despite LAHSAs
approval and financial support of the Youth PIT Count,
LAHSA cites methodological problems as the justification
for excluding these numbers.
Why Are We Concerned? Knowing how many young
people are experiencing homelessness empowers
communities to better meet the needs of homeless youth
and to advocate for policy and system changes. However,
the very nature of youth homelessness makes it difficult
to find and identify homeless youth during traditional
homeless enumerations and we need to use every tool
we have, including the Youth PIT Count, to capture these
numbers. It is well understood that even youth counts are
likely a significant underrepresentation of the numbers of
youth who are homeless in our community. LAHSAs
HUD report sends the message to policy makers
and community leaders that youth and young adult
homelessness is declining when the truth is just the
opposite. The omission of the Youth PIT Count numbers
obscures our efforts to have a clear estimate of the
number of young people experiencing homelessness and
may negatively impact future policy and funding decisions
affecting youth.

This isnt the first time. Los Angeles and LAHSA were
early innovators in youth focused PIT counts and have
received recognition for their work. More recently, however,
LAHSA has failed to show leadership, even when they
have been part of special national pilots to improve youth
counting.
We urge LAHSA to take the following actions:
1) Include the numbers from 2015 Los Angeles Youth
PIT Count in the public record, on LAHSAs web site,
and in on-going communication with HUD.
2) Adopt national best practices on a youth street count,
including the data in the report submitted to HUD.
3) Invest significant resources in the design of the
Los Angeles Youth Count.
4) Pilot a youth specific demographic survey in the
2016 count.
5) Develop strategies for including numbers of
unaccompanied minors and transition age youth
served by LA County schools as part of LAHSAs
official estimates.

I think one of the biggest problems is that we just

dont know how many homeless youth there are.
Without the numbers, we cant properly address and
solve the problem for young people like me. The youth
count needs to be included so we can expand the
resources that can save lives.
Quinn French Jovenes, Inc. Client

Suggested Citation: Los Angeles Coalition to End Youth Homelessness (2015).

The Greater Los Angeles Youth Count: Why The Numbers Dont Add Up.

The Los Angeles Coalition to End Youth Homelessness is a collaboration of over 50 public and private agencies

dedicated to working together to prevent and end youth homelessness in Los Angeles County. For more information, go to
www.laceyh.org.