LA's Homeless Count Rises 3.4%, Reversing Two Years of Declines and Undercutting Mayor Bass's Pitch
LA's homeless population rose 3.4% in 2026, reversing two years of declines and undercutting Mayor Bass's reelection pitch despite nearly $3B in annual spending. Over 41% of participants in her signature Inside Safe program returned to homelessness.
For the first time in two years, homelessness in Los Angeles is going up. The city’s latest point-in-time count recorded 45,194 homeless people overall, a 3.4% increase from last year that reverses a brief downward trend. Unsheltered homelessness rose even more sharply, climbing 7.9%, according to the same count. The figures arrive as a significant setback for Mayor Karen Bass, whose signature Inside Safe program was a cornerstone of her tenure.
The increase cuts directly against the mayor’s central reelection pitch. Just last year, the numbers had pointed in a hopeful direction, but the 2026 data undoes that progress. The report from the Los Angeles Times further undercuts the narrative by revealing that of the people moved through Bass’s Inside Safe program, 41% had returned to homelessness by the end of May. That recidivism rate lies at the core of the program’s efficacy debate.
The scale of the problem is matched by the scale of the spending. City and county agencies are pouring nearly $3 billion annually into homelessness programs, with close to $100 million budgeted this year specifically for Inside Safe. The 2025 count had shown a county-wide population of 72,308 and a city figure of 43,699, making this year’s reversal starker still.
In response, Mayor Bass has pointed to broader economic pressures, citing Trump administration policies and cuts to state and federal funding as contributing factors. Her administration argues that local efforts are fighting a rising tide of affordability crises that extend well beyond city limits.
The new count, however, is a concrete, local metric that directly measures the on-the-ground outcome of billions in expenditure and a high-profile mayoral initiative. With the recidivism rate for her own program exceeding four in ten participants, the challenge for Bass is now a matter of practical, accountable results, not just funding levels or external blame.