In the midst of a complicated reality many homeless individuals and families face amid immigration raids, local governments’ affirmed power to cite people living on the street, local and state feuds with the federal government over root causes and strategies and at-risk funding for services and housing, Long Beach’s annual homeless audit, also known as the point-in-time count, will take place on Thursday, Jan. 22.
The count of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness provides the city with a better understanding of the scale and demographics of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. A survey is conducted by hundreds of volunteers and the city’s independent Department of Health and Human Services to gather homeless residents’ information.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also requires cities with a Continuum of Care – a body funded by HUD responsible for coordinating housing and services for homeless people – to conduct an annual tally in order to access funding.
A factor that could impact this year’s count: How California cities – including Long Beach – responded to the opportunity to amp up enforcement after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v Johnson. In a nutshell, the ruling determined it is not cruel nor unusual punishment to arrest or cite people for sleeping out in the open.
The ruling increased Long Beach’s ability to clear homeless encampments citywide and in “priority focus areas,” which included Veterans Park and Billie Jean King Library/Lincoln Park. Last year, the city reported that the Public Works Department conducted more than 2,000 encampment cleanups from July 2024 to February 2025, removing nearly 600 tons of garbage and debris, while the Police Department issued about 350 citations for camping in designated areas or loitering after hours in parks and beaches from June 2024 to February 2025.
That’s not the only factor making it an unusual year for the count. Intensified federal immigration enforcement may make it less likely for the unhoused to share information. The visibility of ICE raids in the region, however, does not appear to have impacted the effort to sign up volunteers to assist in the audit, at least in Los Angeles County.
Long Beach counts independently from the L.A. County Homeless Services Authority’s own homeless audit, which tallies the homeless in a 4,000 square-mile region. It will be underway starting on Tuesday, Jan. 20, and continue through Jan. 22.
Volunteer Melanie Martins approaches a woman living on a street near El Dorado Park on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, as part of the city’s annual point in time tally of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Volunteers from the Long Beach VA unsuccessfully try to query a man camped out in the brush alongside the 405 freeway near El Dorado Park on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, during the city’s annual point in time tally of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Loren Simpson of Mayor Rex Rex Richardson’s office, center, offers information on city resources to men currently living in Cesar Chavez Park on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, as part of the city’s annual point in time tally of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Victor Williams, 63, who’s been living on the streets of West Long Beach for nine months, embraces Multi-Service Center case manager Lucinda Hayes on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, during the city’s annual point in time tally of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Mayor Rex Richardson, center, takes questions following a roundtable discussion on the findings of the 2025 Homeless Point-in-Time Count in Long Beach on Monday, June 2, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Mayor Rex Richardson speaks during a roundtable discussion on the findings of the 2025 Homeless Point-in-Time Count at the Health Department Public Affairs Office in Long Beach on Monday, June 2, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
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Volunteer Melanie Martins approaches a woman living on a street near El Dorado Park on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, as part of the city’s annual point in time tally of people experiencing homelessness in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
In Long Beach, hundreds of volunteers will gather at The Grand Long Beach, 1401 E. Willow St., in the early morning on Thursday to conduct this year’s homeless count.
Volunteers will be in groups of about three to five and will be asked to canvass a specific area of the city by foot – or potentially by car in less dense areas – and tally the number of homeless people staying in the area starting at 5 a.m. They will also distribute small gift cards, hygiene kits and water during the outreach, the city said, and will survey any homeless individuals who are willing to share their information.
“The point in time count is more than a data collection effort,” the city said in a November news release, “it is a communitywide initiative inviting residents and businesses to connect with neighbors experiencing homelessness, learn about available resources, and actively support the city’s response to homelessness.”
The results from Long Beach’s count underscore a mix of preventative measures and resources the city provides to those who are homeless, but also the continued hardship that people face – especially financially – that leads to homelessness.
The 2025 homeless count, released last June, showed a 6.5% increase in Long Beach’s overall homeless population compared to the prior year. The increase was mainly because of the impact of those displaced by the Los Angeles wildfires in January last year.
Of the people surveyed during the count, 167 people reported being displaced by the wildfires.
In total, Long Beach’s 2025 count tallied 3,595 homeless people. About 1,598 were completely without shelter, the data said, while the remaining 989 people had some sort of shelter. Long Beach did see an increase in the number of chronically homeless people it helped find shelter, officials said.
“Bringing people off the streets and into shelter, the shift is not by chance,” Mayor Rex Richardson said previously about the results of the 2025 count. “It’s a result of expanding shelter options, opening new facilities, and staying focused on bringing people indoors.”
The results of the annual homeless count are typically released in the spring or summer after the count is completed.
For more information about the Long Beach point-in-time count, visit longbeach.gov/homelessness.