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LA CoC Shelter Count & Housing Inventory Count (HIC)

The Shelter Count and Housing Inventory Count (HIC) are important components of the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. The HIC is a point-in-time inventory of projects or sites within the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (LA CoC) that provide beds and units dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness or people who have experienced homelessness.

Federal and Local Funding

Nationally, data provided through the HIC process is submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to document Los Angeles’ shelter and housing resources. The submission of the HIC to HUD is also a part of Los Angeles’ application for federal funds on an annual basis.

Locally, the LA CoC analyzes HIC data on available and upcoming shelter/housing resources in planning and advocating for our homeless response system. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) shares the completed HIC with Coordinated Entry System (CES) leadership, homeless assistance providers, governmental leaders, advocates, and others helping to end homelessness locally.

Update

Due to the LA wildfires in January 2025, the 2025 dates have been shifted from previous years. The Shelter Count and HIC will include all participants who were active in a shelter or permanent housing project on the date of February 19th, 2025. The review, data validation, and quality assurance period for providers is from February 26th, 2025 – March 26th, 2025.

Lets get started . . .
  • The LA CoC Shelter Count & HIC is available on web forms for each project. The web forms are accessible through your LAHSA account at https://www.lahsa.org/homeless-count/hic.
  • For a detailed instructions on how to complete the fields on the HIC form, as well as a walkthrough of the Looker reports you can use to verify your data, you can view the HIC & Pit Guidance And Review Process here: 8981 - HIC & Pit Guidance And Review Process
  • To prepare your organization’s Shelter Count & HIC data for submission to LAHSA:
    • For HMIS Projects
      • Ensure that the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is up to date for each project with the people you served that night of February 19th, 2025.
      • The Shelter Count and HIC data that LAHSA has available from HMIS will be displayed on the LA CoC Shelter Count & HIC web forms for you to verify. There is no need to re-enter data into the form. Any issues you find when reviewing the data will need to be corrected through HMIS.
    • For Non-HMIS Projects
      • On the night of your project’s shelter count, review and update the bed inventory information and the number of occupants that you served the night of February 19th, 2025, including certain occupant household demographics.
  • For projects that are less than 65% utilized or over 105% utilized, you will be required to enter an explanation of why the project is under/over utilized.
  • Upon submission of your project, you will be prompted for feedback on the submission process. Please let us know how we can improve the process for you!
Housing Inventory Count 2025
How to Review and Complete the HIC PIT
Click to Start

What We Count

Shelters

Interim Housing programs for currently homeless people

  • Emergency Shelter
  • Transitional Housing
  • Safe Haven

Permanent Housing

Housing Options for formerly homeless people

  • Permanent Supportive Housing
  • Rapid Re-Housing
  • Other Permanent Housing

Questions or Technical Support

If you have any questions or need technical assistance, please contact HMISSupport@lahsa.org with a detailed description of your questions or concerns. To streamline support operations, please include the URL of the web form for the project in question.


Quick Links

Housing Inventory

HIC Data Summary


Resources