The Longitudinal Enumeration and Demographic Survey Study
From 2021 to 2026, the RAND Housing Center conducted the Longitudinal Enumeration and Demographic Survey Study (LA LEADS)—a first-of-its-kind data collection effort to provide better estimates of unsheltered people in Los Angeles and gather their perspectives on obtaining housing in the city.
Three “hot spot” areas—Skid Row, Hollywood, and Venice—were visited to count the number of unhoused people, vehicles, tents, and makeshift shelters. The center surveyed nearly 1,500 individuals in these neighborhoods about their demographics, needs, preferences, and housing and homeless experiences.
While the study concluded in 2026, the cooperation it fostered between RAND researchers and frontline workers ensures its impact will stretch far into the future.
For example, a years-long, continuous dialogue with Hollywood 4WRD (H4WRD)—a nonprofit convener of homelessness stakeholders in our Hollywood study area—built capacity on both sides.
The center benefited from H4WRD’s perspectives on innovations that could be expanded to increase ROI on state homelessness dollars, such as the Hollywood 2.0 mental health pilot and neighborhood-level Medi-Cal hubs. Likewise, H4WRD benefited from our findings on trends affecting providers—including the center’s reports on the replacement of tent dwellers by harder-to-engage rough sleepers and vehicle dwellers—as well as data collection best practices.
H4WRD will continue to empower its community with understanding of local homelessness conditions by using LA LEADS’s methodology to conduct an ongoing series of regular, self-organized counts.
The LA LEADS study was made possible by a generous funding from the Lowy Family Group. The 2023 effort was also supported by the A-Mark Foundation. An early extension of the LA LEADS study focusing on the “Veterans Row” encampment outside the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Campus was funded by the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute, which was established from a gift by the Daniel J. Epstein Family Foundation to RAND.
