Doug Smith

Senior Writer

Senior writer Doug Smith scouts Los Angeles for the ragged edges where public policy meets real people, combining data analysis and gumshoe reporting to tell L.A. stories through his 45 years of experience covering the city. As past database editor from 2004 through 2015, he hunted down and analyzed data for news and investigative projects. Besides “Grading the Teachers,” he contributed to investigations of construction abuse in the community college system and the rising toll of prescription drug overdoses. Smith has been at The Times since 1970, covering local and state government, criminal justice, politics and education. He was the lead writer for Times’ coverage of the infamous North Hollywood shootout, winner of a 1997 Pulitzer Prize. Between 2005 and 2008, Smith made five trips to Iraq on loan to our foreign desk.

Latest From This Author

California

Meet the woman who brings thousands together to count L.A.’s homeless population

California

Meet the woman who brings thousands together to count L.A.’s homeless population

For 15 years, Clementina Verjan has run the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s annual point-in-time count.

More Coverage

L.A. vowed more ‘sensitive’ cleanups for homeless camps. Now it takes a harder line

How a Facebook group supports people on the streets
California

Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for $1.4 billion in new help for homeless

California

Gov. Gavin Newsom calls for $1.4 billion in new help for homeless

The proposal, included in the new state budget Newsom will send to the Legislature on Friday, marks another major push to send state taxpayer dollars to local communities struggling with a growing crisis that has drawn national attention and has few easy solutions.
California

L.A. County can help thousands of mentally ill inmates avoid arrest and homelessness, study finds

California

L.A. County can help thousands of mentally ill inmates avoid arrest and homelessness, study finds

More than 60% of the inmates with a mental illness in the L.A. would be eligible for diversion if there were more facilities, according to a new study.
California

It took three years of blown deadlines, but L.A. opens its first homeless housing project

California

It took three years of blown deadlines, but L.A. opens its first homeless housing project

A ceremony Monday marked the grand opening of the first project funded by the $1.2-billion homeless housing bond approved by L.A. voters in 2016.
California

$500 million from Newsom could keep L.A.'s most vulnerable from becoming homeless

California

$500 million from Newsom could keep L.A.'s most vulnerable from becoming homeless

A coalition is pushing Gov. Gavin Newsom to put $500 million in his budget to help prevent residents of board and care homes from becoming homeless.
California

Is there a way to predict who will become homeless? These UCLA researchers say yes

California

Is there a way to predict who will become homeless? These UCLA researchers say yes

Researchers at UCLA’s California Policy Lab and University of Chicago’s Poverty Lab have narrowed the odds of predicting who will be homeless to 1 in 2.
California

How Salt Lake City upended the system to use police and shelters to fight homelessness

California

How Salt Lake City upended the system to use police and shelters to fight homelessness

Unlike Los Angeles, where the response to homelessness has leaned toward housing instead of law enforcement, Salt Lake City has pursued both equally.
California

Tributes offered to rescue worker who died in Mt. Baldy fall while seeking missing hiker

California

Tributes offered to rescue worker who died in Mt. Baldy fall while seeking missing hiker

High school teacher Tim Staples died in a fall while participating as a volunteer in the search for a hiker missing for a week on Mt. Baldy.
California

Desperate to build more homeless housing, L.A. County seeks help from the private sector

California

Desperate to build more homeless housing, L.A. County seeks help from the private sector

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has agreed to develop an plan to build more housing and to appoint someone from the private sector to oversee it.
California

Leader of L.A.’s top homeless agency quits after a ‘long five years,’ rising public anger

California

Leader of L.A.’s top homeless agency quits after a ‘long five years,’ rising public anger

After five years of leading LAHSA through restructuring and growth, Peter Lynn is stepping down as executive director. Homelessness has increased 33% during his tenure.