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WESTSIDE - Depending upon who you ask, is chronic homelessness truly being addressed on the streets of Venice and Los Angeles?
While the number of physical encampments seems to be shrinking, there is no reliable data to truly gage results.
For how can you fix something if you don't know how broken it has become?
RVs continue to occupy many corridors here in Venice, as a cooperative plan between Los Angeles City and County has been less than successful, especially on Washington Boulevard where efforts to reduce the number of vehicles has had some success, only to see them in many cases return.
The overall frustration by residents is evident, but a sustaining and successful plan to permanently remove these vehicles is lacking. This complicated equation of creating solutions gets lost in government bureaucracy despite the billions spent on failed attempts to offer a solution that works. \
Those plagued by the issue of homelessness are challenged by a variety of other challenges such as the lack of a support system, unemployment, alcohol and drug dependency as well as mental health
Services that are ongoing.
As yet another Homeless Count is to take place, the actual data seems to suggest things are not worse, but really not getting any better.
For many have little faith in the self-reporting efforts of LAHSA (Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority), super hybrid agency that is being phased out in 2026 and replaced with what many hopes will be a less bureaucratic and more solutions-based approach to this ongoing dilemma.
For the patience of residents has in many cases been exhausted with the lack of permanent progress many would expect after the billions invested to display some semblance of progress.
For what is the actual amount of dollars needed to fix the homeless equation in Los Angeles?
With 2026 being an election year for Mayor of Los Angeles as well as seats on the LA City Council, those incumbents running need to display or offer actual evidence that things are getting better, and more than just marginal or minimal results.
With roughly $1.5 billion invested by Los Angeles and the plethora of service providers tasked to fix the problem, where is that plan that offers results and an accountability of the dollars already spent?
Those who try to hold city officials accountable for the lack of results cannot complain about the lack of financial resources dedicated to the issue, be it annual budget spending or successful initiatives and referendums supported and passed by voters.
1. Broad Multi-Year Plan to End Homelessness (~$20 B+):
One of the most detailed recent estimates comes from a draft budget analysis by Los Angeles city officials:
- Approximately $20.4 billion could be required over about a decade to end homelessness in the City of Los Angeles — meaning the region would reach what’s called “functional zero” (homelessness is rare/brief, and shelter is available to anyone who needs it).
- This plan would produce ~36,000 permanent supportive housing units and subsidize ~25,000 additional apartments for very low-income households.
- It assumes maintaining about 17,000 interim shelter beds through 2029 before ramping down.
This kind of plan would require coordinated funding from city, county, state, and federal governments.
2. Annual Operating & Current Spending (~$2–4 B Per Year)
Even without a full “end” strategy, LA already spends huge sums each year:
- The LA County Homeless Initiative annual budget for FY 2024-25 was about $783 million, including permanent housing, outreach, and interim housing. Combined with city expenditures, homelessness budgets in Los Angeles dwarf $1 billion annually (the city’s budgets for homelessness alone have been close to or above $1 billion over recent years).
- Some analysts even suggest that when you add associated and indirect costs (like related services and agency spending), the actual effective cost of homelessness spending could realistically be $2 billion – $4 billion+ per year.
One commentary noted that simply using rough hotel-style nightly cost math (e.g., $150/night for 75,000 people), you’d hit about $4 billion per year just for basic shelter — uncoupled from more permanent solutions.
3. Even Higher Estimates Including Long-Term Supports (~$100 B)
Longer-term, more expansive estimates broaden the definition to fully build housing and wraparound care for everyone currently homeless and future needs:
- A California state-based estimate of extrapolating LA costs suggested that solving homelessness — with adequate housing, service supports, and infrastructure — could run well over $100 billion statewide. Los Angeles, which contains roughly a quarter of California’s homeless population, would be a significant share of that total. In that analysis, the city’s portion alone would average around $2.2 billion per year for 10 years, with matching county, state, and federal contributions.
This broader framework includes deeper investments in permanent housing, health and behavioral health services, and preventive measures — not just shelters and short-term fixes.
While dollars matter, where is the plan to reduce the number of those living in these conditions?
Annual public spending on homelessness in LA already is in the billions, with city and county budgets each in the high hundreds of millions or low billions annually. A decade-long ambitious plan to essentially end homelessness in the city could cost ~$20 billion or more, spread across multiple levels of government.
Comprehensive, robust long-term solutions — including housing and services — have been estimated at ~$100 billion+ statewide, a figure that would include LA’s outsized share. Current spending alone is apparently not enough to solve the crisis, as most estimates say it must at least double or triple to have a fundamental impact.
And why the Costs Are So High?
The main factors driving these large financial figures include:
- Building or subsidizing tens of thousands of long-term housing units — whether supportive or very-low-income units.
- Providing ongoing support services (mental health care, substance use treatment, job support, healthcare).
- Maintaining interim shelters, outreach teams, and emergency response systems.
- Addressing underlying housing affordability and preventing future homelessness — not just responding after the fact.
An aggressive and not reacted strategy to end new homelessness needs to be addressed now, and not later.
Ending chronic homelessness with real strategies needs to take center stage as funding has been dedicated, but in many cases invested in the wrong strategies and thus the failed results that need to be corrected and redirected.
2026 must be the time and place to finally make the progress that has the support and confidence of the people.
Eliminating LAHSA all together would have been a better way to move forward, and the goal that needs to be realized is ending the street population that is being robbed of their dignity and ability to improve their current condition. If nothing else, government should be able to do exactly that.
The current state of homelessness lacks a workable solution. A premise that corrects the problem and prevents other from falling into this state of no hope. No person should be robbed of their ability to have a place to live with pride and self-respect.
(Nick Antonicello is a thirty-two-year resident of Venice who covers the homeless crisis in his neighborhood. He can be reached online at [email protected].)
