Dive Brief:
- Researchers observing Los Angeles’ homeless outreach program found that for every one person connected with social services, five people were displaced, according to a study published Jan. 20 by the Luskin Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. The study observed Comprehensive Cleaning and Rapid Engagement operations on 16 days between June and October 2025 and surveyed a small number of unhoused individuals.
- The CARE+ initiative was launched in 2019 with the primary mission of delivering services to people experiencing homelessness, along with encampment clean-ups, according to the city. UCLA researchers say the program focuses largely on clearing encampments “with little to no outreach for shelter or housing.”
- Among 51 unhoused residents surveyed in the study, 37% estimated they’d been forced to relocate more than five times in the past 30 days, and five had been offered access to shelter, according to the report. Only one respondent said shelter was obtained, in the form of a hotel voucher.
Dive Insight:
California has the largest unhoused population in the nation, but it has seen some improvement in recent years. The city of Los Angeles has recorded two consecutive years of declines in homelessness.
Los Angeles budgeted $56 million for its CARE+ program in 2024-25 and $35 million in 2025-26, according to the UCLA study.
UCLA focused its research on CARE+ in Los Angeles Council District 11, where researchers said the program “does not live up to its name.”
“Rather than caring for unhoused persons, the program is being used to punish them, pushing them from one location to another and trashing their belongings, while rarely providing useful services to them,” researchers said.
The study recommended three methods to improve the program, including ending disposal of personal property, focusing on assistance over removal and building more low-income and supportive housing.
California cities are ramping up efforts to clear homeless encampments, following California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for cities to outlaw them.
Homeless advocates argue that such policies place additional burden on people who are already struggling financially, and some studies show that criminalizing homelessness does little to reduce it.
