Salvation Army Homelessness Symposium seeks solutions to Los Angeles homeless crisis

The annual Salvation Army Homelessness Symposium was held Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles, and city leaders gathered to share their successes and failures regarding homelessness prevention and intervention.

The meeting puts the collective heads together of agencies and L.A. city officials on what to do about getting the thousands of men, women and families into housing. The groups represented at the symposium offer services ranging from social services to mental health services.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass calls it a crisis. With some 20,000 affordable housing units in the pipeline, she says the need right now is for interim housing that’s cost effective.

“Putting people in motels is way too expensive. We have to come up with something that’s more cost effective. But we also have to educate Los Angeles to the fact that you pay one way or another. If you think it’s expensive to house people, it’s very expensive to leave people unhoused,” she said.

According to the 2025 homeless count done by the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), there are nearly 45,000 people living on the streets of L.A.

Partnering with the Salvation Army, non-profits are looking at limited resources to provide services for the tens of thousands of people living on the streets. This is where you come in.

“The best thing that we can do is realize that the homeless crisis is not insurmountable. It’s not something that’s too big for any of us to make a difference. We can all make a difference,” said Salvation Army Major Lisa Barnes. “You can check out the Salvation Army website here in Southern California and click on donate now. All of your donor dollars that come stay in your local zip code. So what you give stays where and helps where you are every day.”

And along with your generous donation, the Salvation Army could use volunteers – your time to help with services they provide. It also gives you an opportunity to interact with unhoused individuals, learn what their needs are and how you can help.