At a time when multiplying tent camps are making homelessness appear to be an ever-worsening fact of life in Los Angeles, a sign of hope has arisen in Hollywood, historically among the region’s magnets for those living on the fringe.

Last year, contrary to what many residents and homeless advocates alike perceived, the number of people sleeping on Hollywood’s streets declined by 12%, reversing an upward trend of several years.

That’s the finding of an unofficial count of the unsheltered population conducted by a coalition of Hollywood businesses, churches and nonprofit groups that stepped up to fill the void when this year’s countywide count was canceled due to the coronavirus.

The survey, released Tuesday, found homelessness down 12% on average in the 40 census tracts that make up Hollywood and East Hollywood. But the change was markedly uneven across that area, a phenomenon that helped explain how the total could be down even as some homeless camps were growing larger.

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