Every year in January, thousands of volunteers travel the streets of Los Angeles and the surrounding area, to count the number of homeless peopleliving near streams, in canyons, dead-ends streets, or in a «hidden» tent camps.
So, last year it was revealed 58 thousand persons without the certain residence in the region of the city of angels.
Research group Economic Roundtable claims that these numbers are even understated. The conclusion is made on the basis of data from social services, education departments and other administrative agencies.
Research company real estate Zillow agree with these conclusions. According to their estimates, in 2017 the number of homeless in Los Angeles has reached 61 thousand, reports Los Angeles Times.
Why is it important to count? It is necessary for the growth of homelessness, assess whether the regional strategy, which should provide funding for social programs.
The Economic Roundtable group suggested several options for improving the accuracy of the calculations, in particular GPS.
Similar experiments were conducted in Canada, Denmark, Czech Republic. So, in Prague, for example, respondents from among the homeless provided by the GPS trackers and cell phones. So it was possible to obtain data about their locations.
