Unsheltered homelessness in Council District 5 has dropped 22% since Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky took office, her office said Monday, Aug. 31. The district covers Bel-Air, Holmby Hills, Westwood, Century City, Palms and other Westside neighborhoods.

Yaroslavsky also said every major encampment in the district has been resolved. The claim came in a statement from the mayor's office announcing that Mayor Karen Bass's Inside Safe program completed its 140th operation Sunday, Aug. 30, housing 19 people from a longstanding encampment at Venice Boulevard and Glendon Avenue in Palms.

"Since I took office, we've reduced unsheltered homelessness by 22 percent in Council District 5 and resolved every major encampment in the district," Yaroslavsky said.

Yaroslavsky, who chairs the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee, described the approach as pairing each encampment resolution with an offer of housing, then following up to prevent camps from returning.

The CD5 figure stands out against citywide trends. The 2026 annual point-in-time count found unsheltered homelessness across Los Angeles rose 7.9% after two straight years of decline, the Los Angeles Times reported. Overall homelessness in the city increased 3.4%, to an estimated 45,194 people.

Yaroslavsky's office did not specify the baseline year or methodology behind the 22% figure.

Inside Safe has moved more than 6,200 people into hotels, motels and other interim housing since Bass took office in December 2022. But by June 30, 43% of those placed had returned to homelessness, according to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) figures cited by the Los Angeles Times. Bass told the Los Angeles Times on Aug. 9 that the program had not reached the scale needed.

During the Aug. 30 Palms operation, those housed received onsite medical support and personal care items donated by Housing MV, a Mar Vista-based volunteer organization. LAHSA also provided shelter to people from encampments outside the immediate area during extreme heat.

Bass is seeking reelection and Yaroslavsky represents CD5 on the Nov. 3 ballot.