South Bay Service Planning Area (SPA) 8
2021 "Shelter Count" Results
For the night of January 27, 2021, tbd people were identified as experiencing homelessness in the SPA 8/South Bay staying in interim housing.
2021 "Shelter Count" Results
For the night of January 27, 2021, tbd people were identified as experiencing homelessness in the SPA 8/South Bay staying in interim housing.
Background
After performing a comprehensive analysis with safety considerations at the forefront, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) requested and was granted a waiver from HUD to forgo the 2021 Unsheltered Point-In-Time (PIT) Count.
Traditionally, LAHSA's Continuum of Care Homeless Count is comprised of four components:
The 2021 PIT Count would typically have affected future funding allocations to specific populations and Service Planning Areas (SPA). LAHSA is working with the LA County Homeless Initiative Office to maintain current Measure H funding levels based on the 2020 PIT Count results. Federal funding through HUD will continue to fund renewal grants, pending upcoming Congressional action.
After performing a comprehensive analysis with safety considerations at the forefront, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) requested and was granted a waiver from HUD to forgo the 2021 Unsheltered Point-In-Time (PIT) Count.
Traditionally, LAHSA's Continuum of Care Homeless Count is comprised of four components:
- Unsheltered Street Count
- Unsheltered Demographic Survey
- Unsheltered Youth Count
- Sheltered Count/Homeless Inventory Count (HIC)
The 2021 PIT Count would typically have affected future funding allocations to specific populations and Service Planning Areas (SPA). LAHSA is working with the LA County Homeless Initiative Office to maintain current Measure H funding levels based on the 2020 PIT Count results. Federal funding through HUD will continue to fund renewal grants, pending upcoming Congressional action.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) recently released the file containing the 2021 Shelter Count program-specific data. It recorded how many people were staying in temporary housing the night of January 27, 2021. In Service Planning Area (SPA) 8/South Bay, that number was 1,104, up slightly from the 2020 total of 1,048 (+5.3% increase) (Note 1). However, that overall number masks the impact that COVID-19 had on SPA 8's shelter system:
We are waiting for responses to our LAHSA data inquiries before generating an information sheet with SPA 8's 2021 Shelter Count information. Please stay tuned for it!
In the meantime, we want to acknowledge the tremendous effort made by all the service providers and government staff engaged across the South Bay. They continue to work tirelessly in responding quickly to the ever-shifting COVID-19 work environment.
We sincerely appreciate your dedicated service!
2021 Shelter Count SPA 8 Notes:
- Had it not been for the pandemic, the number of available beds for individuals would have risen a remarkable 432%, from 59 to 314, with the 2020 opening of four interim housing programs (Note 2).
- However, due to safety concerns, most of these new beds were not available and only 72 people stayed in them (Note 3).
- The temporary Project Roomkey (PRK) program, where COVID-vulnerable individuals stayed in motels, housed 213 people in two South Bay venues (Note 4).
- The other notable SPA 8 change was the decrease in people using DPSS program motels vouchers, from 319 last year to 167 in 2021 (-48% decrease) (Note 5)
- For other population-specific shelters, the utilization remained relatively the same (Note 6).
We are waiting for responses to our LAHSA data inquiries before generating an information sheet with SPA 8's 2021 Shelter Count information. Please stay tuned for it!
In the meantime, we want to acknowledge the tremendous effort made by all the service providers and government staff engaged across the South Bay. They continue to work tirelessly in responding quickly to the ever-shifting COVID-19 work environment.
We sincerely appreciate your dedicated service!
2021 Shelter Count SPA 8 Notes:
- Note 1: LAHSA's 2021 SPA 8 shelter information summary dated 7/20/21 shows that 1,197 were staying in shelter. However, this included 93 people staying at select programs operating in the Long Beach Continuum of Care (CoC). We removed these from our analysis to be consistent with our past reporting of including only the LA CoC programs.
- Note 2: This statistic is for programs that are not categorized for special populations such as for Veterans, DV survivors, Youth, etc.
- Note 3: At some shelters, the number of available beds was reduced to enforce social distancing (referred to as “decompression”). Some were additionally impacted by being under quarantine.
- Note 4: There were two additional PRK sites operating during 2020 but they had sunsetted by the end of that year.
- Note 5: These "Cal Works Homeless Assistance Program" motel vouchers, administered by the LA County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), is different from PRK and used primarily for families with minor-aged children.
- Note 6: During the pandemic, a motel-stay program similar to PRK was started for DV survivors called "Project Safe Haven." LAHSA's data file did not include the statistics from the two such SPA 8 programs in operation at the time of the 2021 Shelter Count.
City of Long Beach
Long Beach is part of Los Angeles County's SPA 8 but is its own "continuum of care" (CoC), thus it conducts a separate homeless count for its jurisdiction.
Long Beach is part of Los Angeles County's SPA 8 but is its own "continuum of care" (CoC), thus it conducts a separate homeless count for its jurisdiction.
