Beverly Hills News
Homeless Headcount In Beverly Hills
By Katherine Noland
Feb 5, 2013 - 9:15:47 PM

BEVERY HILLS—On Wednesday, January 30, a group of 27 volunteers, city staff, and police officials hit the streets of Beverly Hills for the city’s biennial Homeless Headcount, counting the number of every individual sleeping on the streets throughout the city.

The count took place beginning at 8:00 p.m. on January 30 and went until 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 31. Those involved with the event found 30 homeless individuals, 27 men and 3 women, occupying areas including parking lots, bushes, parks, alleyways, and other forms of encampment (huts, tents, etc.). A similar count took place in surrounding Los Angeles areas.  

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that all agencies devoted to helping the homeless perform a count every two years in order to address the issues surrounding the problem of homelessness and how to solve it. Many of the individuals who were counted were known by name as a result of the Human Services Staff, the City’s Changing Lives and Sharing Places (CLASP) Homeless Outreach Team, and the Police Department keeping “an ongoing tally of the homeless population using day-to-day knowledge of individuals in Beverly Hills,” according to the city’s recent press release.

Jim Latta, L.C.S.W., Human Services administrator for the City of Beverly Hills stated “This effort every two years is valuable in two important ways. It contributes to the knowledge base of the region as a whole and it helps us in Beverly Hills to identify and make contact with our homeless citizens. Once we get to know them and their stories, we are in a much better position to offer assistance.”

There has been a decline of homeless individuals accounted for in Beverly Hills within recent years, dropping from 42 in 2009 and 37 in 2011.