Number of homeless residents in Los Angeles County decreases in annual count

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments.

Results released Friday from a federally required tally conducted in January found 75,312 people were homeless on any given night across the county, compared with 75,518 in 2023. About 45,252 were within the city of Los Angeles, where public frustration has grown as tents have proliferated on sidewalks and in parks.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a homelessness state of emergency on her first day in office in December 2022. The tally of unhoused people in the city of about 4 million, one of the nation's largest, is about equal to the population of Palm Springs.

“This is not the end, it is the beginning and we will build on this progress, together,” Bass said in a statement.

Janice Hahn, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement that "For the first time in years, the number of people sleeping on our streets is down and the number of people in our shelters is up.”

The estimates were released on the same day the Supreme Court cleared the way for cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places, overturning a California appeals court ruling that found such laws amount to cruel and unusual punishment when shelter space is lacking.

Bass warned in a statement that the high court's decision should not be used to criminalize the unhoused population.

“This ruling must not be used as an excuse for cities across the country to attempt to arrest their way out of this problem or hide the homelessness crisis in neighboring cities or in jail. Neither will work,” she said.

LA County is the nation’s most populous, with about 10 million people. More than 1 in 5 of all homeless people in the U.S. live in the county, based on a 2022 federal tally.

Bass said it was the first drop in the city's homeless tally in six years. She has allotted what she called a record $1.3 billion in the city budget to get unhoused people into shelter and treatment programs.

Still, the ongoing crisis is playing out in plain sight in virtually every neighborhood in the city.

The problem is most apparent in downtown Los Angeles, where thousands of people live in makeshift shanties that line entire blocks in the notorious neighborhood known as Skid Row. Tents regularly pop up on the pavement and parks outside City Hall, and encampments increasingly are found in suburban areas and under freeway overpasses.

Bass' signature program, dubbed Inside Safe, offers homeless people motel rooms and a path to permanent housing with services. It has more than 2,760 enrollees so far, her office said this week.

Volunteers with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority fanned out across the county in January for the annual report's main component, the unsheltered street tally. The so-called point-in-time count took place over three days but results were not released until they were validated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Congress requires the tallies every two years and uses the information to distribute resources for homeless services.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has budgeted record sums to combat homelessness that pervades the state’s major cities and many smaller communities. A state audit in April found that California spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness over the past five years but did not consistently track whether the huge outlay of public money actually improved the situation.

A man lays on the front steps of an office building early morning Wednesday, June 26, 2024 in the West Lake area of Los Angeles. The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

People linger outside a Yoshinoya restaurant across McArthur Park early morning Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Tents regularly pop up on the pavement and parks outside Los Angeles City Hall, seen right, downtown Los Angeles early morning Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

An unidentified man sleeps on a public bench in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles early morning Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

People sit inside a tent set on a sidewalk near City Hall downtown Los Angeles early morning Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

A man suffering homelessness sleeps on the bare sidewalk early morning Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at McCarthur Park in Los Angeles. The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

People sleep outside their tents set on the sidewalk early morning Wednesday, June 26, 2024 in the West Lake area of Los Angeles. The number of homeless residents counted in Los Angeles County has dipped slightly, decreasing by about 0.3% since last year as California continues to struggle with the long-running crisis of tens of thousands of people sleeping in cars and encampments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched at least one short-range ballistic missile off its east coast Monday, South Korea’s military said, a day after the North vowed “offensive and overwhelming” responses to a new U.S. military drill with South Korea and Japan.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's southeastern town of Jangyon at 5:05 a.m. It said an additional, unidentified ballistic missile launch trajectory was detected 10 minutes later, a suggestion that North Korea might have performed two missile launches.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and is closely exchanging related information with the United States and Japan.

The launch came two days after South Korea, the U.S. and Japan ended their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region. In recent years, the three countries have been expanding their trilateral security partnership to better cope with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.

The “Freedom Edge” drill was meant to increase the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The three-day drill involved a U.S. aircraft carrier as well as destroyers, fighter jets and helicopters from the three countries.

On Sunday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a lengthy statement strongly denouncing the “Freedom Edge” drill, calling it an Asian version of NATO. It said the drill openly destroyed the security environment on the Korean Peninsula and contained a U.S. intention to lay siege to China and exert pressure on Russia.

The statement said North Korea will “firmly defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state and peace in the region through offensive and overwhelming countermeasures.”

Monday’s launch was the North’s first weapons firing in five days. On Wednesday, North Korea launched what it called a multiwarhead missile in the first known launch of a developmental, advanced weapon meant to defeat U.S. and South Korean missile defenses. North Korea said the launch was successful, but South Korea dismissed the North’s claim as deception to cover up a failed launch.

In recent weeks, North Korea has also floated numerous trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in what it has described as a tit-for-tat response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets via their own balloons. South Korea responded by briefly resuming its anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts for the first time in years.

In mid-June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a deal vowing mutual defense assistance if either is attacked. Observers say the pact could embolden Kim to launch more provocations at South Korea. The U.S., South Korea and others believe Pyongyang has been supplying conventional weapons to Russia for its war against Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance.

Meanwhile, North Korea opened a key ruling party meeting Friday to determine what it called “important, immediate issues” related to works to further enhance Korean-style socialism. On the meeting’s second day, North Korea's leader spoke about “some deviations obstructing” efforts to improve the country's economic status and unspecified important tasks for resolving immediate policy issues, North Korea’s state media reported Sunday.

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a U.S. fighter jet takes off from USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier during the Freedom Edge exercise by the U.S., Japanese and South Korea at East Sea on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rashan Jefferson/The U.S. Navy via AP)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a U.S. fighter jet prepares to take off from USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier during the Freedom Edge exercise by the U.S., Japanese and South Korea at East Sea on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rashan Jefferson/The U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is anchored in Busan, South Korea, on June 22, 2024. The newly-inaugurated Freedom Edge exercise is wrapping up in the East China Sea, having brought together Japanese, South Korean and American naval assets for multi-domain maneuvers for the first time.(Song Kyung-Seok/Pool Photo via AP, File)