Crosstown LA

The abrupt increase in the 2026 homeless count erased two years of progress, illustrating that the numerous housing programs aren’t enough to absorb the waves of new people losing shelter across Los Angeles County. The annual point-in-time count, released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority on Friday, estimated that 73,040 people across the county are without permanent housing, more than the entire population of Beverly Hills and Culver City combined.

Los Angeles is on track to hit its fifth consecutive record year of dead animals on city streets. At the same time, city shelters are dealing with an increase in dog and cat intakes. The twin increases paint a grim picture for animal welfare in the city. In the first six months of 2026, Los Angeles recorded 13,614 dead animal removal requests — 301 more than during the same period last year.

Since the June 2 election, Los Angeles, and the rest of California, have been slammed with complaints that the slow vote-counting process meant something nefarious was happening. The allegations are unfounded, as for years, later votes have broken toward Democrats and progressive candidates. Those assertions overshadow something dramatic that happened in the election: Turnout in the city of Los Angeles soared compared to past primaries.

In an election year, crime is usually front and center. But in this year’s mayoral campaign the issue has barely broken through. In part, that might be because data indicates the city is safer than it was a year ago. That’s the good news. The bad news? There is a drought of detailed crime statistics in Los Angeles. That’s because for the past 26 months the Los Angeles Police Department has failed to publish accurate crime data.

In Los Angeles right now, you don’t have to drive far to find a place selling gas for more than $7 a gallon. (The countywide average is $6.20.) As recently as January, the average per-gallon price in the county was $4.03. A decade ago, driving an electric vehicle often meant white-knuckling it until you could find the nearest charger. The range back then was often less than 100 miles on a charge. EVs sold today routinely can go more than 300 miles percharge.

(Image generated with MidJourney) The real estate sector is like a thermometer that measures the health of the Los Angeles economy. Lately, it’s giving some mixed signals. The median price of homes sold is flat, even though the supply of new units has trended down in recent years. Rents are stagnant, but still too high for many. To give some perspective, Crosstown put together five charts about the Los Angeles real estate market.

(Image generated with ChatGPT) Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday unveiled her proposed budget of $14.85 billion for the 2026-27 fiscal year, the largest in the city’s history. Because this is an election year, the budget deliberations carry higher stakes than usual. The Los Angeles city budget is a sprawling document that runs more than 500 pages and determines everything from how many police officers the city can hire to the number of trees that get planted.

The storefront at Echo Park Eats, which rents ghost kitchens to 40 restaurants. Photo: Jarrett Carpenter Some of Los Angeles’s most iconic eateries—Papa Cristo’s in Pico-Union, Guerrilla Tacos in Downtown and French eatery TAIX in Echo Park—have closed their doors, prompting hand-wringing about the decline of the city’s rich and diverse food scene.

Los Angeles’s trees are in increasingly dire health, according to one measure, weakened by climate, poor planning and a city stretched too thin to adequately care for them. The number of “tree emergencies” reported to the city’s MyLA311 service has been climbing steadily, reaching 1,844 in December, the highest level recorded since the city began releasing data last April. A tree emergency, by the city’s own classification, typically means a tree has fallen or is at imminent risk of doing so.

Poor planning, deferred maintenance are pushing the urban tree canopy to the brink