The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has announced several improvements ahead of the 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.

“LAHSA is continuously looking for ways to execute the Homeless Count more efficiently and provide better data that gives decision-makers the insights needed to end homelessness faster,” said Gita O’Neill, Interim Chief Executive Officer of LAHSA.

With the success of capturing 100 percent of last year’s data digitally, the Homeless Count’s app-based data collection process is returning for a fourth year. In 2026, volunteers will experience smoother counts with improved maps that were developed in partnership with community stakeholders. LAHSA is also assigning more staff to provide technical support and help with supply distribution at deployment sites, ensuring volunteers collect their materials and get out to count quickly and efficiently.

To improve the volunteer experience, training materials have been simplified. Training materials have also been updated for deployment site coordinators and logistics specialists to ensure consistency in processes across the county. Hands-on mock deployment sites are also being held to help the nights of the count go smoothly.

LAHSA is coordinating with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the LA County Emergency Centralized Response Center for additional outreach staff support. This will improve the counting in “special consideration” census tracts and areas, which are usually in more rugged locations like basins, creeks and deserts that are too dangerous, hard-to-reach, or inaccessible for community volunteers.

The processes for both the Housing Inventory and Youth counts have been overhauled to improve response rates and generate bigger samples to get a better representation of youth and sheltered homelessness. More specifically, the Youth Count methodology has been updated to use a respondent-driven sampling approach over a 19-day survey period, rather than a 10-day count. The Housing Inventory Count was updated to engage stakeholders earlier in the process to optimize data review and make it easier to validate responses.

“It takes our entire community to solve homelessness. We need our friends, families, and colleagues to join us in counting … We are especially looking for additional volunteers in the San Gabriel Valley, East LA County, and the South Bay region,” continued O’Neill. “The Count provides critical insights about our unhoused neighbors. With everyone’s combined efforts, LAHSA can help direct services where they will be most effective to address homelessness in Los Angeles.”

Currently, LAHSA has nearly 3,000 people registered to volunteer. LAHSA aims to have about 4,200 volunteers registered for the Homeless Count. Anyone interested in volunteering can sign up at theycountwillyou.org.

The Unsheltered Count will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the San Fernando Valley and the metro Los Angeles area (also the Santa Clarita area). Volunteers in the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles will count on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Finally, the count will wrap up Thursday, Jan. 22, in the Antelope Valley, West and South Los Angeles, and the South Bay/Harbor region.  Glendale, Long Beach, and Pasadena conduct their own counts.