Who Counts? Assessing Accuracy of the Homeless Count

The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Counts from 2007 through 2017 are viewed as a body of work rather than discrete annual snapshots and assesses the extent to which the Counts present a consistent body of evidence and the extent to which there are inconsistencies among Counts, or with other data, indicating a need to strengthen the Count methodology. The objective is to strengthen the reliability of the Count as a tool for understanding and combating homelessness. The top level finding is that the Homeless Count is valuable for providing a fresh picture of homelessness, but the Count data is not reliable enough to be used for comparing the number or population composition of homeless residents from different Counts. In addition, there are indications that the Homeless Counts have underestimated the number of people who are homeless