By Jorge Casuso

June 4, 2019 -- Los Angeles County's homeless population grew at a faster rate than Santa Monica's, with LA's population rising by four times the beach city's rate.

The County saw its homeless population increase to 58,936, a 12 percent rise over last year, according to the new official count released Tuesday.

The increase comes after a 4 percent decrease in 2018 and despite $619 million spent last year to fund homeless services and build housing for those living on the streets.

The population hike compares to a 3 percent increase in Santa Monica's homeless population, which rose from 957 in 2018 to 985 this year ("Santa Monica Homeless Count Shows Slight Increase," March 21, 2019).

In the City of Los Angeles, which Santa Monica borders on three sides, the homeless population increased by 16 percent to 36,300.

Of those, 9,079 were sheltered -- they were staying in shelters, hospitals, motels and jail the night the count was taken -- and 27,221 lived on the streets; 10,482 were chronically homeless.

The homeless census in the City of Los Angeles counted 13,719 blacks (38 percent), 12,442 Hispanics (34 percent) and 8,228 whites.

Two-thirds were men and 30 percent women.

In the County's Supervisorial District 3, which includes Santa Monica, the number of homeless people grew to 12,909, a 7 percent increase.

Nearly 2 million people live in the district, which stretches from the ocean to Los Feliz and from Venice to San Fernando.

Of those, 2,360 were sheltered and 10,549 lived on the streets; 3,504 were chronically homeless.

The district census counted 9,067 men (70 percent), and 3,497 women (27 percent). The other 345 were transgender or non-conforming.

Of the total homeless persons in the district, 4,633 were white (36 percent), 4,331 were Hispanic (34 percent) and 3,039 were black (24 percent).

Sixty percent -- 7,800 -- were between the ages of 25 and 54.