Veterans experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles increased by 2%, jumping from an estimate of 2,991 in 2024 to 3,050 in 2025, officials said Tuesday.

While veteran homelessness rose in the L.A. region, authorities said it remains 20% lower than in 2023 when the estimate was 3,878. Homeless authorities noted that in 2024, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs permanently housed 1,854 veterans.

The VA, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and the Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs released the new data Tuesday, using information from the 2025 Homeless Count and totals from a By-Name List of veterans experiencing homelessness in the region.

“This result speaks to the tireless efforts of the VA, MVA, veteran service providers, and LAHSA over the last year to bring our heroes home,” Gita O’Neill, CEO of LAHSA, said in a statement.

“However, while the Homeless Count is a foundational tool, we recognize its limitations in capturing the whole picture of veteran homelessness. We must continuously assess and refine our data collection efforts and processes to ensure we present the most reliable information possible to the public,” she added.

The three agencies partnered to produce what officials described as the “most accurate and transparent look” into veteran homelessness. The trio created a new By-Name List of veterans experiencing homelessness based on the Homeless Management Information System.

The group also founded a “One Team” initiative to develop and regularly update a list that provides a verified roster of veterans experiencing homelessness. As of Sept. 10, there are 1,573 verified veterans experiencing homelessness on the By-Name List, according to LAHSA.

The discrepancy between the estimated number of homeless veterans and the number of verified veterans on the By-Name list can be attributed to a combination of reasons, such as a need for better outreach efforts to engage homeless veterans who have not been reached, or it may reflect the statistical error in the homeless count estimates, LAHSA officials said.

“The estimates of homeless veterans are based on self-report from a sample of people experiencing homelessness in LA County,” Benjamin Henwood, a professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, whose team produces the homeless count estimates in partnership with the homeless agency, said in a statement.

“We know that some people report to be a veteran when, in fact, they are not. While our methods attempt to account for this, there is still a margin of error associated with the veteran estimates,” Henwood added.

This past year, the USC team and the VA partnered to try to understand this gap by offering those who self-identify as veterans access to VA outreach. The pilot program confirmed that there are individuals who identify as veterans but have no military history, and that there are some veterans who have not yet been identified on the By-Name List.

LAHSA supports continuing the collaboration between USC and the VA during the 2026 Homeless Count.

“Now decision-makers will have more information about veteran homelessness in LA County and be able to make better-informed decisions and craft more effective interventions that will reduce veteran homelessness,” O’Neill said in a statement. “The release of this data aligns with Measure A reporting, which emphasizes the use of both local administrative data and the Homeless Count data.”