Everyone Counts

Start 2009 by doing something to make a difference for 70,000 Angelenos. Become a volunteer for the 2009 LAHSA Homeless Count.

On any given night in Los Angeles County, 73,000 people are homeless. Over 10,000 are children under the age of 18. Almost 8,500 are veterans. There's no doubt: these statistics are disturbing. Yet, knowing the numbers is a crucial tool in our work to end homelessness. But how do we know these numbers? Where do they come from?

Every two years, LAHSA coordinates a study about homelessness in the City & County of Los Angeles. We need to find updated data about what homelessness looks like in our communities. How many homeless people are there? How did they become homeless? What do they need to obtain stable, permanent housing?

Much of our data is collected by volunteers, who donate one evening to help end homelessness. The 2009 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count is coming up in January. Will you join us?

Sign up to volunteer here.

Why should you do it? Beside the obvious, that by participating in the census you will help ensure that the vital services provided to the less fortunate continue to be available, you just might wind up with some good stories.

Case in point. I volunteered in 2007. I stumbled across a LAHSA link on some LA parks website and thought, why not? I counted in Venice Beach and in Compton. I learned from a homeless man that if a man and a woman are walking on a sidewalk and the woman is walking on the street side that can be propositioned. And a homeless lady corroborated this fact.

I also got pulled over by two cop cars in Compton who approached my vehicle with their spot lights blinding me and their hands on their guns. The reason? They admitted, after we explained that we were volunteers with LAHSA, that they thought the two black men in the car had either kidnapped me or hi-jacked my car or something, cause white girls don't drive around the ghetto with black men. Needless to say, a complaint was filed against Compton PD...

So, why not sign up? You just might learn something (about prostitution) or at least wind up with a story you can tell your grand kids.