Understanding Homelessness Using Administrative Data: Evidence from Los Angeles

Abstract

Los Angeles, California, has the second largest homeless population in the United States and among the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness of any major city. Consequently, LA has enacted a number of expensive, high-profile policies to adddress homelessness in recent years (e.g., a $1.2 billion bond to develop permanent supportive housing.) Quasi-randomness in the timing and geography of these initiatives—in combination with acute housing scarcity—create a number of natural experiments. This project uses these experiments and an administrative data enclave hosted by the California Policy Lab to gain a better understanding of causal relationships in homelessness and provide policy-relevant insights.