The mortality rate among homeless people in Los Angeles County decreased for the first time in more than 10 years, though one public health leader warned the welcome gains are at risk of being lost due to funding reductions.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health found that the mortality rate decreased by 10% in 2024, the latest available data. It marks the first decrease reported since 2014, the department's first year of data on homeless mortality, according to areportunveiled on Tuesday, March 10.
In total, 2,208 Los Angeles County people experiencing homelessness died in 2024, which is 300 people fewer compared to 2023.
While the news was welcomed by Los Angeles County supervisors and public health officials, they agreed that the mortality rate was still too high. But the future of continued improvements is less clear amid decreases in funding, as Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer noted in a statement.
"At a time of major reductions in federal and state funding for homeless services and supports, we are at risk of losing precious ground and seeing an increase in the number of vulnerable people losing their lives," Ferrer said.
The drop was in part due to a 21% decrease in drug overdose deaths among homeless people, according to the department. Drug overdose, coronary heart disease, traffic-related injuries, homicide and suicide make up the bulk of causes of death in the county's homeless population, according to the department. Despite the improvements, it is drug and alcohol overdose that remains the leading cause of death among homeless people in 2024, according to the report.
Officials didn't give definitive reasons for what led to the decrease in drug overdoses during a press conference on March 10. However, they did provide some general insight about what might be responsible for that decrease.
"I think that there's a continuum of services that we've focused on across prevention, harm reduction, treatment, as well as recovery services and recovery housing that, from a service perspective, we think has driven down overdose deaths," said Gary Tsai, Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Bureau director with the department.
He said that it could also be due to fentanyl's potency being reduced, though he didn't have data specifically about the topic.
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Johnika Jamison, 38, holding her daughter Everly, 1. Her family has been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Jamison is struggling to lead her family out of homelessness while tending to their everyday care and needs. Jamison along with her husband and three daughters have been staying in a small hotel room for weeks as they embark on year two of homelessness. Jamison dreams of better days, but tending to her family's care needs takes up so much of her time she barely has a moment to look for work." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, 38, packing and helping her daughter Eastin, 9, get ready for school, center, as she holds her sister Everly, 1, in the hotel room her family calls home at the moment on Dec. 12, 2025. Jamison and her family have been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Jamison is struggling to lead her family out of homelessness while tending to their everyday care and needs. The hotel has a laundry room, Jamison says, but it's $5 per load. She doesn't use it much." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, 38, left, with her daughters Eden Jamison, 15, right, holding her sister Everly, 1, and Eastin Jamison, 9, as they wake and prepare for school in their hotel room. "We're running behind, as usual," Jamison says. It's Friday, and Eden needs to be at her bus stop by 6:30 a.m. Eastin's bus driver starts the route outside of their hotel each morning, idling for about 15 minutes. Eastin likes getting there early to read from the empty bus, basking in a kind of quiet that doesn't exist in the hotel room." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, 38, and her family have been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. "I care for everybody else. I'm the one who manages all the medical appointments and the symptoms on the daily, and doing the research and advocating for each of my family members to their doctors," Jamison says. "And making sure that everybody takes their medicine on the daily."" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, 38, and her husband Tristian Harris, 25, right, and their family have been homeless for more than a year after they both experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Jamison is struggling to lead her family out of homelessness while tending to their everyday care and needs. "It's not that easy to get back on your feet when you're literally trying to survive," Jamison says." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, left, and her family have been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Every day, Jamison and Harris have to come up with $100 to stay in the hotel. She has paid for it in the past by returning items she's bought for her family, like Everly's high chair and toys. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, 38, and her husband Tristian Harris, 25, getting a start to the day preparing the kids for school on Dec. 12, 2025. Jamison and her family were locked out of their apartment on Sept. 19, 2024. Jamison was seven months pregnant. After they were evicted, Jamison and her daughters went to Jamison's parents' house in Gaffney, South Carolina. But after she had Everly in October, Jamison, Harris and the baby stayed with Harris's dad while Eden and Eastin stayed with Jamison's parents. "It was a lot of hotel hopping and moving back and forth, and we weren't all together," Jamison says." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, 38, in the hotel room the family calls home while watching her daughter Everly, 1, sleep during the day while her other children are at school and her husband is at work. Jamison and her family stayed in an Airbnb in Charlotte in September and October 2025, when she was hired at a charter school in Charlotte. "For the first time in a year, all five of us were together," Jamison says. But she was let go three weeks into the job, and soon they couldn't afford the Airbnb anymore. They've been in the hotel room since Nov. 8." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Eden Jamison, 15, helps care and feed her sister, Everly, 1, in the hotel room where the family resides. "We don't like to put her on the floors," their mom, Johnika Jamison, says of the baby. Everly wants to start walking, but they keep her on the beds or in her playpen. "We don't trust 'em," Everly's dad Tristian Harris says. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, left, with her three daughters Eden, 15 Eastin , 9 and Everly, 1, and her husband Tristian Harris, back right, in the small hotel room they call home. Jamison married Harris, Everly's father, in December 2024. The family has been homeless for more than a year after Jamison and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. "I don't have time to be under the weather," Jamison says. "I've got to take care of everybody else and every thing." She gets meals from food pantries sometimes, but they often provide unusable items. One time Jamison was gifted a box of dry pasta and a jar of sauce. But her family lives in a hotel room. "How the heck am I supposed to cook that?"" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, left, with her three daughters Eden, 15 Eastin, 9 and Everly, 1, and her husband Tristian Harris, back right, in the small hotel room they call home. Jamison was a school guidance counselor for a decade before her family's medical needs and her high-risk pregnancy took her out of the workforce. "I get so much happiness from helping kids and their families," she says. As a school counselor, Jamison worked with students experiencing homelessness before she was homeless. "You don't understand until you're in it yourself," she says." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Eden Jamison, 15, arrives back from school to the hotel room the family calls home on Dec. 12, 2025. Johnika Jamison, 38, and her family have been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Eden tries to help out around the house and acts like "a little adult" sometimes. "But she can't," Johnika Jamison says. "She's 15." " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Tristian Harris, 25, after being sent home following a shortened work day and trouble with a paycheck on Dec. 12, 2025. He and his wife Johnika Jamison, 38, are currently living in a small hotel room. They have been homeless for more than a year after Jamison and Harris experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. The car Jamison and Harris share, a 2005 Nissan Ultima, has over 200,000 miles on it and needs an oil change, Jamison says. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Johnika Jamison, 38, and her family have been living in a small hotel room since Nov. 8, 2025. It costs $100 per night. "Some days it takes all your attention and energy just to find the money for the next night," Jamison says. Luckily, the hotel manager has been kind to them and doesn't demand the $100 by noon. "I think she's just a really good person." " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Eden Jamison, 15, right, packs to catch a school bus early in the morning on Dec. 12, 2025, while her sisters Eastin Jamison, 9, and Everly Jamison, 1, continue to sleep in the hotel room bed that the family now calls home. Johnika Jamison, 38, and her family have been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Jamison is struggling to lead her family out of homelessness while tending to their everyday care and needs." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> After medical setbacks, a family works to escape homelessness
Johnika Jamison, 38, holding her daughter Everly, 1. Her family has been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Jamison is struggling to lead her family out of homelessness while tending to their everyday care and needs. Jamison along with her husband and three daughters have been staying in a small hotel room for weeks as they embark on year two of homelessness. Jamison dreams of better days, but tending to her family's care needs takes up so much of her time she barely has a moment to look for work.
So, how does the county improve on mortality rate among its homeless population? Among the department's recommendations are:
Build on interim and permanent housing options for homeless people
Maintain and expand enrollment in Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, among homeless people
Sustain and grow mental health services for county residents experiencing homelessness
The recommendations come as California braces for significant federal health care funding cuts. PresidentDonald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act," which was signed into law in July 2025, will impact Medi-Cal. More specifically, the changing work requirements, paired with "administrative burden," could leave up to 2 million people without Medi-Cal, according to the nonpartisanLegislative Analyst's Office. By 2028, up to 3 million people could lose Medi-Cal, both due to the OBBA and changes made in California's budget, Miranda Dietz, director of the Health Care Program at UC Berkley Labor Center, told California lawmakers in February.
Losing eligibility does jeopardize people's access to substance use services, Tsai said when asked about how the federal health care cuts could impact the department's strategies to reduce the homeless mortality rate.
However, the "substance use population" is exempt from the work requirements, he said. According to theCenter for Health Care Strategies, people in a qualifying "substance use disorder treatment program" are exempt, as well as those who are considered "medically frail," which include people with a substance use disorder.
"We are doing work to make sure that leading up to the January 2027 implementation of the work requirements and other issues, that the substance use community is aware that they are exempt," Tsai said.
In February, county supervisors approvedan $843 million spending planfor the Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services and Housing, with more than $500 million earmarked for interim and permanent housing across the county, according to HSH.
Los Angeles County has proposed atemporary sales tax increase— which will be up to voters to approve — that could generate approximately $1 billion annually to help mitigate local health care impacts due to the funding cuts.
The next report about the county's homeless mortality rates will be released in early 2027 to reflect 2025 data.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her atpbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:LA County's homeless mortality rate drops, the first in 10 years
