Our Cause
Our Mission
The Tents for Homeless mission is to provide tents to chronically homeless adults and children living on the streets of Los Angeles. Given the enormous size of the homeless population in Los Angeles, emergency shelters are filled to capacity with long waitlists, resulting in nearly 50,000 adults and children unable to secure shelter through the night. Tents are not the long-term solution, however, they do provide a modicum of privacy and shelter from sun and inclement weather.
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Located in Los Angeles, Tents for Homeless was born from the reality that homelessness in Los Angeles is a serious problem, with the largest population of homelessness in the nation that has only been increasing over the years. In 2022 almost 70,000 people in Los Angeles County were counted as homeless according to the homeless count conducted by the Los Angeles County Homeless Services Authority. This represents a 30% increase from 2018.
Demographics
This year 41,980 of the approximately 69,144 homeless persons in Los Angeles County were located in the City of Los Angeles, of this nearly 70 thousand, 48,548 remain unsheltered.
According to the United Nations, globally there are 100 million homeless people. As many as 2.5 million to 3.5 million Americans are homeless over the course of a year, including about 1.4 million children. One out of every three homeless people in the United States is living in an unsheltered location. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, five to seven percent of American youths become homeless in any given year.
10%
under 18
42%
experienced domestic violence
25%
suffer from mental illness
22%
physically disabled
32%
female
Statistics of homeless individuals in Los Angeles City | Source: LAHSA
Our Philosophy
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to housing and to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, or disability.
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The Tents for Homeless project does not address the root causes of
homelessness -- rapid economic globalization, increasing trends
towards privatization and land speculation, lack of job training
programs, lack of affordable housing options, poverty, and mental
illness.
Our Resources page lists many organizations working on structural
changes to end homelessness.
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Our efforts are aimed at addressing the pressing need of homeless people
for a basic shelter to protect themselves from the rain or cold nights when emergency housing in a shelter program is not available. You can help by donating a tent or sleeping bag, or by making a donation so that Tents for Homeless may acquire and distribute tents and sleeping bags on your behalf.
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Decent, safe, and affordable housing is a fundamental human right. We have an obligation to ensure the housing needs of all are met, especially poor and vulnerable people and their families.
