Annual count of homeless residents begins in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County’s annual count of homeless residents is under way. Up to 6,000 clipboard-toting volunteers with the LA Homeless Services Authority fanned out across the county Tuesday night for the effort’s main component, the unsheltered street tally. The so-called “point-in-time” count will take place over three days. Karen Bass, LA's new mayor, joined city and county officials to kick off the effort. On her first day in office last month, Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness. The count, which also makes use of demographic surveys and shelter counts, is mandated by the federal government for cities to receive certain kinds of funding.