The crisis is visible in downtown Los Angeles, where hundreds of people live in makeshift shanties that line entire blocks in the notorious neighborhood known as Skid Row. Tents regularly pop up on the pavement outside City Hall. Encampments are increasingly found in suburban areas under freeway overpasses.
January’s annual homelessness count came before the COVID-19 outbreak paralyzed the economy and pushed scores of people into unemployment — many of whom were already spending nearly half their earnings on rent in a city with a severe shortage of affordable housing.
