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 [ LOS ANGELES ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=312)

#  The Cynicism of Homelessness

Written by Tim Campbell.

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Official CityWatchLA Homelessness Wallpaper

August 17 2026

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iAUDIT! - When it comes to homelessness in Los Angeles, it is easy to be cynical about any number of subjects. To people skeptical of official news, [the recent increase in the unhoused population came as no surprise](https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/la-homeless-count-results-2026-bass); there is compelling evidence the decreases claimed the past two years were at best ephemeral[, based on poor methodology](https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/lahsa-homeless-count-rand-accuracy-2025-volunteers-report-study) and [allegedly cooked numbers](https://laist.com/brief/news/housing-homelessness/whistleblowers-homeless-official-misconduct). The main excuse LAHSA and City officials gave for the supposed increase was that the state and federal governments reduced funding for housing and other programs. However, [as I detailed in a recent CityWatch column, the City, County, and LAHSA have a history of underspending their budgets](https://mail.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33015-homelessness-why-we-deserve-the-truth). And whatever reductions may have been made should be at least partially offset by the estimated $1 billion generated by Measure A. Therefore, a bit of skepticism about the hysterical pronouncements from officials about thousands of people being thrown into the streets shouldn’t be surprising.

But cynicism isn’t the exclusive province of critics of LA’s homelessness universe. Advocates and local leaders are experts at the cynical use of the news cycle to support their positions. [The results of LAHSA’s latest Point in Time (PIT) count are a perfect example](https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=10113-2026-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-results-presentation). After two years of (disputed) small decreases, homelessness increased by 1.2 percent in LA County and 3.4 percent in the City of LA. Unsheltered homelessness increased 3.3 percent in the County and 7.9 percent in the City. LAHSA and other leaders were quick to blame funding cuts, especially those for time limited subsidies, for the increase. LAHSA focused on HUD’s funding suspension as a sign of the Trump administration’s hostility towards Housing First. Mayor Bass blamed the state and Trump for funding reductions as well. [What makes her statement especially cynical is that she seems to have suddenly realized LAHSA has been an ineffective partner agency and is now calling for fundamental reforms](https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/mayor-bass-issues-statement-point-time-count). Perhaps she would like us to forget [she and Councilmember Raman defended LAHSA before the County Board of Supervisors a little more than a year ago](https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/mayor-bass-councilmember-raman-send-letter-board-supervisors-ahead-vote-create-more). Or maybe we should forget she has served on LAHSA’s Board of Commissioners since 2023 and has had ample opportunity to demand reform over the past three years. And her press release made no mention of her enthusiastic support for Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum as LAHSA’s new CEO in 2023, [who became mired in controversy over allegations of political favoritism and serious financial mismanagement](https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/lahsa-ethics-conflicts-contracts-no-policy-adams-kellum-ceo).

As readers may recall, last October I published a CityWatch piece on f[ive things we must remember when it comes to homelessness in LA.](https://l.gourl.es/l/91e0f429c483ca8f781eb4e69b5b3dc3da055255?notrack=1&u=3778423). Number Two said we don't really know how many homeless people there are in LA, nor if homelessness has increased or decreased. [ At a February panel discussion on homelessness in Encino,](https://l.gourl.es/l/ea1d1de16d0aa82164067fb3b4dbbe4abdd21b0d?notrack=1&u=3778423) we were assured by representatives from the Mayor's office and Councilmember Raman's staff that homelessness was trending downwards.

[Now the LA Times is reporting the 2026 PIT count was inaccurate](https://l.gourl.es/l/0d63b1340313c13ec19fe09c2f812ff5f69b4710?notrack=1&u=3778423) because some providers don't use the approved data entry system to track clients, and LAHSA has no process in place to gather their information. In the article, Bass and Raman complained about how inaccurate LAHSA's count is, apparently expecting us to forget that they both adamantly defended LAHSA when the County pulled its funding last year. [Bass was quick to claim a "significant" downward trend last year when the count showed decreasing homelessness](https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/lasting-change-annual-homelessness-count-down-two-years-row-first-time-ever-los-angeles), but now, to quote the article, said. "...she has never viewed the homeless count as a precise tool for assessing the crisis". Yet last year she and Dr. Adams Kellum couldn't wait to brag about lower numbers, even announcing the decrease months before the release of the official numbers. And we can’t let Raman off the hook; while Bass was bragging about nonexistent decreases, Councilmember Raman was chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, which should be in charge of holding LAHSA and providers accountable for their performance.

As for LAHSA itself, the Communications Director offered the usual word salad, saying "...singling out any one factor in a vacuum to explain overall shifts can be inaccurate and misleading. An accurate analysis of why numbers went up or down must look at how numerous changes interact as a whole rather than examining individual variables separately.” He’s calling for time to perform an “accurate analysis”, yet on the same day the new PIT count numbers were announced, LAHSA’s leaders were already blaming state and federal funding cuts. He tried to dismiss the error as an isolated incident, but he also admitted not every provider uses HMIS and there is no reporting mandate for agencies that don't use it. So, there could be hundreds or thousands of uncounted people in shelters (or who come and go), but we have no way of knowing.

So, the next time we see news about the number of homeless people on our streets, remember that neither LAHSA nor the City truly know how many there are. The counting error described in the Times article is just one example of how poorly the count has been managed over the past several years, with data glitches and on-the-fly adjustments commonplace.

We could excuse cynicism as a byproduct of election year posturing and the bareknuckle politics of City Hall. But that would let our elected officials off the hook. LAHSA’s PIT count has been questioned by experts and by count volunteers for years. Mayor Bass used the numbers--questionable at best--to claim reductions in street homelessness that cannot be verified. Councilmember Raman, who has been deeply involved in homelessness issues since being elected, has seemed to have discovered accountability, not as a facet of responsible governing, but as a campaign slogan. Little wonder, then, that so many residents are openly skeptical of any claims made by elected officials.

***(Tim Campbell** is a longtime Westchester resident and veteran public servant who spent his career managing a municipal performance audit program. Drawing on decades of experience in government accountability, he brings a results-driven approach to civic oversight. In his iAUDIT! column for CityWatchLA, Campbell emphasizes outcomes over bureaucratic process, offering readers clear-eyed analyses of how local programs perform—and where they fall short. His work advocates for greater transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness in Los Angeles government.)*

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