there was a sharper increase in people considered “unsheltered”, defined as those living outside in tents, cars, RVs and other makeshift encampments. The unsheltered population increased by 14% from 2022 to 2023, with more than 50,156 people living outside, making up 70% of the overall homeless population. The number of homeless people living indoors in shelters has remained steady at roughly 20,000 people.
The data comes amid an escalating humanitarian catastrophe in the most populous county in America, which has prompted scrutiny from the United Nations and where an average of six unhoused people are now dying each day. Overdoses have been driving the sharp increase in fatalities of people living outside, along with heart disease, traffic accidents, homicides, hypothermia and heat exhaustion.