The Bureau's Sacramento dress rehearsal counted only homeless people located in encampments of 15 or more. In Los Angeles, enumerators will not be able to go to a specific site to find homeless people. The homeless population is diffuse, mobile, and living in very small groups. It is possible to identify a general area where homeless people are likely to be found, but not with the specificity currently required by the Census Bureau. In the following section, the question asked in the survey is provided, followed by summary analysis, detailed analysis, and the data collected in the survey.
Some areas have a very high rate of homeless people who live in the area.
This suggests that homeless people in some communities identify themselves with the area and are more likely to conduct their activities in that area, whereas others have a more tenuous connection to the community. The effect is that site identification will be more effective in some communities than in others. Stability in the Boyle Heights and Venice street homeless population may result in a higher count, while other areas will be more difficult to enumerate. Some homeless people remain in their neighborhood. Some homeless people are mobile and do not remain in a neighborhood.