Skid Row can fool the eye. A cleaner sidewalk or fewer tents might make it seem as though one of America’s most infamous homeless neighborhoods is finally turning a corner.
But that impression doesn’t tell the whole story.
Los Angeles celebrated a second straight citywide decline after its 2025 homeless count. Yet researchers later found that Skid Row was moving in the opposite direction for much of the following year, with its homeless population growing again and more people sleeping outdoors…