Lost Angeles: City of Homelessness

Homelessness in Los Angeles has remained a persistent and complex issue for decades, shaped by rising housing costs, economic inequality, and gaps in mental health and addiction support. By 2021, the crisis had reached a point where tens of thousands of people were living without stable housing across the city and surrounding county, making it one of the largest unhoused populations in the United States.

This documentary explores the underlying causes behind that reality, combining insight from experts with the experiences of those living through it firsthand. Through these perspectives, the film looks at how the situation developed over time and what challenges stand in the way of meaningful, long-term solutions.

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"I ran away from home when I was 14 and I was homeless for the next 23 years. After that, I spent most of the 90s in and out of jails."

"Our mission [Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission] is to both prevent and end people’s homelessness. This is a place where people can come, they can get off the streets, they can get stable and then we can assist them in ending their homelessness and moving into permanent supportive housing. All of our shelters operate very similarly. We have three meals a day delivered on site. On top of that we have hygiene facilities, laundry facilities, case management and housing navigation, which is the critical piece because it’s so hard to get an apartment in Los Angeles."

"Project Room Key is a program that was established out of the coronavirus pandemic. It was the governor’s way of helping the unhoused get shelter during the most uncertain time; provided shelter to the unhoused. It took unused hotel rooms or hotel rooms that now were going to be converted into this program to give the unhoused a place to stay."

"There’s nothing wrong with HHH as an initiative. What complicated it and what was driven up those costs is how it was implemented. The ones that were supposed to cost $375,000 a unit, they’re now averaging $600,000 a unit, some $700,000."⁶

"I think it’s important to realize that homelessness is a traumatic event, that even if you weren’t a drug addict before, becoming homeless can change you and it changes you physiologically. The psychosis on the street is due to primarily three things: bipolar disorder, schizophrenias of various type, and methamphetamine, and methamphetamine bleeds over to the other two as well."⁷

"1963 – President John F. Kennedy signs the Community Mental Health Act into law; 1967 – California Governor Ronald Reagan signs the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act into law."⁸

"The worst thing we can do is to criminalize poverty, to criminalize homelessness, to criminalize mental illness, and we also know that it’s not a solution to just say get off the sidewalk, we have to find a right balance so that we can help as many people as we possibly can."

"What you saw at the VA shows that if there’s a political will, things can get done. You can cut through the red tape if you’ve got the right people saying this needs to stop. It’s the same thing that we saw happen in Venice along the Venice boardwalk when people in power, in leadership, want to get something done, they can."

¹ The annual Point-in-Time count is widely viewed as a "minimum baseline" rather than an exact total because it inherently misses the "hidden homeless." Many individuals intentionally remain invisible—sleeping in cars, couch surfing, or hiding in remote areas—to avoid stigma, criminalization, or safety risks. While this snapshot is a vital tool for tracking long-term trends and securing federal funding, it consistently underrepresents the true scale of the crisis, which includes a vast number of people living in precarious, out-of-sight situations.
² Research indicates a complex relationship between homeless encampments and crime, with evidence showing that while they are associated with increased reports of property crime, they are more significantly linked to higher rates of violent victimization within the camps rather than a surge in violent crime perpetrated against the general public. They are significantly more likely to be victims of violent crime (assault, robbery, sexual assault) than to be perpetrators, with studies showing unhoused individuals face violence at 12–19 times the rate of the general population.
³ Skid Row in Los Angeles developed over decades as a concentration point for homeless services, particularly from the mid-20th century onward. As shelters and support services became increasingly centralized in the area, many individuals experiencing homelessness were drawn or directed there, contributing to long-term geographic clustering of unhoused populations and service infrastructure.
⁴ Data from the 2020 Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Point-in-Time Count indicates that a majority of individuals newly experiencing homelessness reported economic hardship as a primary contributing factor. The report also highlights that a significant portion of unhoused women report histories of domestic violence, underscoring the role of both economic and interpersonal factors in pathways into homelessness.
⁵ Research on former foster youth in California shows a significantly elevated risk of housing instability after aging out of the system, with studies reporting that a substantial proportion experience homelessness or housing insecurity within a few years of leaving foster care. This highlights systemic gaps in transitional support for youth exiting care.
⁶ A 2022 audit by the Los Angeles City Controller found that the average cost to construct housing units under Proposition HHH had reached approximately $600,000 per unit, with some projects exceeding $837,000 per unit. This exceeded initial estimates (approx. $350k-$400k) and prompted significant debate over the efficiency of the $1.2 billion bond measure approved by voters in 2016.
⁷ Homelessness, substance use (particularly methamphetamine), and severe mental illness (psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) exist in a complex, bidirectional cycle where each factor can cause or worsen the others. A 2024 meta-analysis found that 67% of people experiencing homelessness currently have a mental health disorder, with lifetime prevalence as high as 77%.
⁸ The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 and California’s Lanterman-Petris-Short Act of 1967 were key policies in the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care in the United States, shifting responsibility for mental health treatment from state hospitals to community-based systems. Scholars note that while these reforms expanded civil rights protections, they also contributed to long-term challenges in adequately supporting individuals with severe mental illness.