Venice’s remaining unsheltered population stands out, with higher employment rates, education levels, and access to benefits compared to Hollywood and Skid Row
A comprehensive report from the RAND Corporation, released Tuesday, documents a significant 22% decline in Venice’s unsheltered homeless population in 2024, marking the steepest drop among three Los Angeles neighborhoods studied.
The Los Angeles Longitudinal Enumeration and Demographic Survey (LA LEADS), conducted over 39 months, recorded a net reduction of 165 people in Venice from December 2023 to December 2024 through bimonthly counts and surveys of 463 individuals. The study attributes this decline to a combination of increased housing placements and shifting living patterns, though challenges remain as the population dynamics evolve.
The report highlights that Venice’s reduction was primarily driven by a 25% decrease in vehicle-dwelling, dropping from 80 vehicles to account for the entire 165-person decline. Unlike Hollywood, where the Inside Safe program relocated 321 people from tents to interim housing, Venice saw no significant encampment resolutions in its LA LEADS footprint. Instead, the drop may be linked to a nearly 50% reduction in citations for oversized vehicle parking (from 200 to 106) and fewer violations for extended parking, suggesting voluntary relocations or external factors like sanctioned RV removals east of the study area near Penmar Park.
RAND notes that only 28 LAMC 41.18 citations were issued in Venice, representing just 22% of the decline, indicating other untracked influences may be at play. To verify this, RAND expanded its Venice monitoring area in 2024, finding no significant eastward shift of unsheltered individuals, pointing to a broader reduction rather than local displacement.
The study also underscores a growing trend of “rough sleeping”—individuals living without tents or vehicles—which doubled among survey respondents in Venice, aligning with enumeration data showing stability in tent numbers since a 2023 Inside Safe action reduced them to around 40 structures.
This shift, now comprising a record-high share of the unsheltered population, complicates outreach efforts. RAND suggests that as encampments diminish, outreach teams face a more mobile population, reducing efficiency and necessitating new strategies. Clinically, the report warns that rough sleepers’ vulnerability may strain already overburdened service providers.
Demographically, Venice’s remaining unsheltered population stands out, with survey data showing higher employment rates (20%), education levels, and access to benefits like Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (60%) and General Relief (36%) compared to Hollywood and Skid Row. Median income was reported at $500 per month, higher than Skid Row’s $70, reflecting a relatively stable subset. However, 51% of Venice respondents reported never being offered housing or shelter, the lowest rate among the three neighborhoods, though acceptance rates were high when offers were made.
RAND contrasts its findings with the 2024 LAHSA Point-in-Time (PIT) count, which underestimated Venice’s numbers by significant margins, identifying only 173 individuals compared to LA LEADS’s 339. This discrepancy, attributed to differences in enumeration timing and methods, raises concerns about the PIT’s accuracy.
The report recommends tailored outreach, including multidisciplinary teams and improved data-sharing, to address Venice’s evolving homeless landscape, especially as the area prepares for potential policy shifts ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
