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LA CoC Shelter Count & Housing Inventory Count

The Shelter Count and Housing Inventory Count (HIC) are important components of the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. The HIC is a point-in-time inventory of projects or sites within the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (LA CoC) that provide beds and units dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness or people who have experienced homelessness.

Federal Funding

Nationally, data provided through the HIC process is submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to document Los Angeles' shelter and housing resources. The submission of the HIC to HUD is also a part of Los Angeles' application for federal funds on an annual basis.

Local Funding

Locally, the LA CoC analyzes HIC data on available and upcoming shelter/housing resources in planning and advocating for our homeless response system. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) shares the completed HIC with Coordinated Entry System (CES) leadership, homeless assistance providers, governmental leaders, advocates, and others helping to end homelessness locally.

Let's get started . . .

  • The LA CoC Shelter Count & HIC is available on web forms for each project. The web forms are accessible through your LAHSA account at https://www.lahsa.org/hic.
  • The submission period for the 2026 HIC/PIT begins on February 4th, 2026 and must be submitted no later than February 27th, 2026.
  • For detailed instructions on how to complete the fields on the HIC form, a job aid is available here: 9722 - Housing Inventory Count (HIC) Job Aid.
  • For detailed definitions on all fields on the HIC form, expectations on submission, and instructions on how to validate the data using Looker reports, review the HIC & PIT Guidance here: 8981 - HIC & PIT Guidance And Review Process.
  • To prepare your organization's Shelter Count & HIC data for submission to LAHSA:
    • For HMIS Projects
      • Ensure that the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is up to date for each project with the people you served that night of January 21st, 2026.
      • The Shelter Count and HIC data that LAHSA has available from HMIS will be displayed on the LA CoC Shelter Count & HIC web forms for you to verify. There is no need to re-enter data into the form. Any issues you find when reviewing the data will need to be corrected through HMIS.
    • For Non-HMIS Projects
      • On the night of your project's shelter count, review and update the bed inventory information and the number of occupants that you served the night of January 21st, 2026, including certain occupant household demographics.
  • For projects that are less than 65% utilized or over 105% utilized, you will be required to enter an explanation of why the project is under/over utilized.
  • Upon submission of your project, you will be prompted for feedback on the submission process. Please let us know how we can improve the process for you!

Housing Inventory Count 2026

Ready to Begin?

Submit your Shelter Count & Housing Inventory Count data

Click to Start

* For a list of known issues with the HIC/PIT, please see the known issue log here: hic-pit-known-issues.

What We Count

Shelters
Interim Housing programs for currently homeless people
  • Emergency Shelter
  • Transitional Housing
  • Safe Haven
Permanent Housing
Housing Options for formerly homeless people
  • Permanent Supportive Housing
  • Rapid Re-Housing
  • Other Permanent Housing

Questions or Technical Support

If you have any questions or need technical assistance, please submit a ticket via the LAHSA Enterprise Ticketing System using the dropdown Group option "Homeless Count Support" and the Category option as "Housing Inventory Count (Shelter)". You will be asked to enter the Project ID of the project you are inquiring about, which is visible at the top each HIC form.

Quick Links

Housing Inventory
HIC Data Summary

Resources