UPDATE: Ahmad Chapman of LAHSA returned a request for a comment this afternoon. He confirmed that WeHo did participate in the Homeless Count but could offer no information as far as who did the counting. He said whichever City Staff did the counting, they were trained in the manner of other volunteers. He said it is not out of the ordinary for certain cities to conduct “closed” counts, meaning volunteers were prohibited — it turns out West Hollywood’s count was “closed” last year as well. He said whether counts are “open” or “closed” does not affect the results. We asked him about the count’s accuracy, and shared one of the comments below about homeless people in tents and RVs not being counted, and he said the count would be as accurate as possible using their methods. The results of last night’s count will not be released for several months.
The countywide, weeklong Homeless Count was supposed to be conducted in West Hollywood last night, but unpublicized, last-minute changes and limited access left us unable to confirm whether it actually took place.
WEHOville arrived at City Hall at 8 p.m. last night, as directed by the LAHSA’s website, hoping to touch base with the 50 requested volunteers and organizers who were expected to spend the next four hours scouting and tracking homeless people in the city. But Jenny Ivanova, Strategic Initiative Specialist with the City of West Hollywood, told us no volunteers were allowed — that the count would instead be conducted by city staff.
We asked about the reason for the last-minute change; which staff members would instead be doing the counting; and how many of them were would there be.
Any further questions, Ivanova told us, would have to be directed to the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority.
Mayor Sepi Shyne and Mayor Pro Tem John Erickson were both seen briefly outside City Hall’s parking lot but neither made themselves available for comment. While they later posted a photo of themselves outside City Hall expressing pride in participating, it’s unclear in what capacity they did so. No city vehicles were seen leaving the premises, and there was no sign that the count ever began.
Photos on Twitter and Instagram show teams of volunteers and major activity last night in other locations such as Santa Monica and Mid-City. Earlier in the week, County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, until recently a West Hollywood council member, shared photos of herself as part of a massive crowd preparing to conduct the count in Westwood.
No similar content has been found online depicting or referring to the count that was supposed to occur in West Hollywood on Thursday night.
WEHOville has reached out to Ahmad Chapman of LAHSA with questions.
The yearly count conducted by LAHSA collects data that is an “essential component in understanding the scope and nature of homelessness in Los Angeles County” and informs where tax dollars are spent.
Last year, volunteers counted only 46 homeless people in West Hollywood, which astounded residents who see dozens of unhoused individuals on a daily basis.
[…] Hall sent us this information in response to our story about this year’s Homeless Count, which proceeded last week with neither volunteers from the […]
The family of vagrants is still living in sleeping bags and garbage across from City Hall. It’s been over a week.
I know the police have been called out several times, but they are refusing to move.
Are we so powerless as a community, that there’s nothing to be done? Or is Sepi Shyne allowing this to happen due to the race of the vagrants.
What could be preventing Sepi Shyne from adopting these folks into her home to give them the TLC and compassion she presumes to exemplify? John Erickson could father the escapade and help create a happy statistic in the Mission Accomplished column. Lindsey Horvath could sign on as God Parent.
Am not attempting to make light of the plight of these people on the street.
Remember their lack of action when it comes time vote. Get rid of the deadweight / slackers / posers who make up WeHo City Council. STOP voting them another term!
These ppl move about so much, how do they even get an accurate count?! They make it OK being homeless, so there is no reason to want to get off the streets. Sepi is already running for Schiff’s seat. That is her priority now..
The three derelicts are still living across from City Hall in sleeping bags on the sidewalk. It’s been 5 days now.
A. Lee WALKUP I attempted to participate Thursday evening. 26JAN23 as a presumed, signed-up participant – some 45-50 days ago – when originally solicited by LAHSA online. I received a confirmation of my participation from LAHSA online and presumed all to be arranged. I have successfully participated in years past as a member of the Senior Advisory Board, on which I presently serve as Chairperson. When I arrived at City Hall Thursday evening at 7:45PM I met a woman at the back gate – presumably a staff member. I said that I was there as a volunteer for the Homeless… Read more »
What a ridiculous mess. How can anyone believe the competence of LAHSA to do anything, and Weho City seems equally inept in this regard. NO BUENO!
Thanks for confirming the facts amid City Hall’s obfuscation. This is truly a shame!
Nothing to see here, Sepi and John are on it! Just go back to sleep…
Best advise!
Hope they counted the two crazed individuals planted across of City Hall for the past two days. The woman is intoxicated–surrounded by garbage–and making bizarre gestures–really scary to walk past this. Nice view for oblivious city workers and council members.
There was an individual across City Hall last week passed out on the sidewalk under a blanket for at least two days and nights. It’s remarkable that even in plain sight of government offices this person is ignored and allowed to remain in this tragic condition for so long……Sad.
Artsakh, Armenia and Persia feature predominantly in Mayor Sepi Shyne’s working agenda. Perhaps she would be better served working with the United Nations. West Hollywood seems to be a revenge stream for her which eludes the residents. She even imports speakers to appear at the CC Meetings as she did with her coronation. Ultra Bad Faith.
“revenue stream for her”…..
What is sad, is that you would degrade an international political agenda where people are being killed. Hung on the street. Maybe you don’t think that has anything to do with West Hollywood, and it doesn’t. Sepi is not the first council member to talk about international issues on the dais. By far not the first one. Why can’t you just skip her comments, if you don’t like them? This is not a revenge stream, it’s a compassion stream.
Thank you, the wording was “revenue stream” for Sepi. While international political agendas are admittedly horrendous the comment was not intended to degrade any aspect of human rights. Mayor Shyne appears to be using the events in Iran to perpetuate a focal point and revenue stream for her personal agenda. Cleverly shrouding ones insidious goals with compassion indicates a lack of integrity, a column in which she clearly checks too many boxes.
Interesting reporting. I’m interested to see the follow up. I tried to volunteer this year, but couldn’t figure out how and this explains it. Having said that, I don’t tend to see a lot of homeless people on the street in WeHo at night, so the relatively low counts don’t surprise me that much. There is one guy who sleeps in his truck on my block and I’d be curious to see if he was counted. He was definitely there last night.
West Hollywood, always happy to be the city of Smoke, Mirrors, Deception & Artifice. Artfully under the control of Sepi, the Miracle Mayor.
Well if Lindsey got rid of 80% of the homeless on her own that would leave, what maybe 8 or so in the city? Obviously the powers to be thought there were more important areas to count then West Hollywood with those 8.