LOS ANGELES—Following some criticism over the accuracy of its annual homeless count, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) announced some changes Jan. 11 for its count this year.
The changes include a new app to count unsheltered people, built by a “new vendor with years of experience developing apps” for similar counts, according to a news release.
The agency also plans to hire a demographer and two data scientists for data analysis and ensure that those countings have access to paper maps and tally sheets for counts if there are issues with connecting to the internet.
LAHSA said it would deploy make-up count teams to make sure every census tract is counted, and consider tracts that do not have data to be uncounted. Volunteer training will also be offered both in-person and online….