Los Angeles County Leadership Table for Regional Homeless Alignment Recommend First-Ever Countywide Homelessness Reduction Goals

Los Angeles, CA—The Los Angeles County Leadership Table for Regional Homeless Alignment on March 6 approved an ambitious set of recommendations to house more than 15,000 people in five years and reduce unsheltered homelessness by 30%. The goals set the stage for the first-ever countywide homelessness reduction targets. 

The Leadership Table was created by the Board of Supervisors and codified by Measure A, the half-cent sales tax extension approved by Los Angeles County voters in November that will generate more than $1 billion annually for homelessness reduction. 

The Leadership Table’s recommendations include increasing housing placements, reducing the number of people entering homelessness and an increase in the number of people remaining housed for at least two years.

California Community Foundation CEO Miguel Santana co-chairs the Leadership Table with Peter Laugharn, CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

“We’re going to have to transform the system. We can’t do that unless we have targets, and that’s where this work begins,” Santana said. 

Laugharn told the group “what you all just did is really glorious,” and noted achieving the goals “will be tough.” He said the panel now must think “about our constituencies and how to rally them around this, and how we can support the people who work on this day in and day out [to make] these things really work.”   

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider the goals later this month. If adopted, they would be the first time the county has set concrete, regional targets for reducing homelessness. 

The recommendations come at a moment when critical federal programs that help pay for housing and services for the unhoused, including rental assistance and housing vouchers, are at risk of being scaled back. Advocates worry that without sustained support from state and local elected officials, efforts to reduce the number of unhoused people will suffer.

“Now, it’s up to state, county and federal leaders to match that commitment. We can’t do this alone. If any one of those entities pulls back, we’ll make it clear what’s at stake,” Santana said.  

The Measure A goals approved by the Leadership Table call for significantly increasing housing, preventing new individuals from becoming homeless and ensuring that those who secure housing are able to remain there for at least two years.

Housing placements will increase from 19,127 annually to 30,000, representing a 57% jump. The number of people entering homelessness is expected to drop from 63,000 to 50,561, a 20% reduction. Long-term housing stability efforts will ensure that at least 20,000 individuals remain housed for two years or longer, an increase of 91% from the current 10,501.

The recommendations will be reviewed by the Executive Committee, a panel of elected officials also created by Measure A, on March 14 before moving to a final vote by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on March 25. If approved, implementation will begin on April 1, 2025.