Bad weather has been forecast — high winds and freezing rain — but today Daniel is lucky: he has the sun on his face and a spot at the entrance to the famous Santa Monica Pier, one of LA's premier beachside addresses.

It's a commanding view, but Daniel's not there for the sightseeing, he's there to beg.

"What's your dog's name?" I ask. "Sadie," he replies and invites me to give her a pat. Sadie lies beside him on the pavement. She looks healthy, but Daniel is clearly worse for wear. There are teeth missing when he smiles.

Dog and master are living rough, and they're not alone. Every night in America's second largest city around 47,000 people share their fate, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Across the continental USA the estimate rises to more than 560,000, including 39,000 military veterans.

The sixth State of Homelessness in America report, released in April last year by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, reported a 2 per cent drop in overall homelessness from 2014-2015, but for people like Daniel such figures are academic.

'Put on a confident urban face, you'll be fine'

Homelessness is an issue in many cities, but in Los Angeles it is as in your face as the city's brash image of itself. ( ABC RN: Antony Funnell )

Spend any time in the City of Angels and what quickly becomes apparent is not just the sheer scale of the problem, but the diversity of those affected.

The homeless of LA don't fit an easy stereotype — they're young, old, male, female, black, white, Asian and Hispanic.

Some clearly have mental health issues. Some work during the day and live on the streets at night. Some are shabbily attired, others well dressed.

Not all of them sleep on the streets. Some find accommodation in homeless shelters. But there are too many people for the services available and nowhere near enough beds for everyone.

Homelessness is an issue in many cities, but in Los Angeles it is as in your face as the city's brash image of itself.

One of LA's "tent encampments" set up on the edge of Venice Beach. ( ABC RN: Antony Funnell )

There are "tent encampments" everywhere: under highway exit ramps, next to construction sites, on the sides of suburban streets, along the swanky foreshore at Venice Beach.

"As you are likely aware Venice Beach is a beautiful urban beach community," the guest directory in my hotel room advises.

"It has a very diverse population with a significant homeless population living just outside multi-million-dollar properties.

"If you are coming from another urban environment we hope you will feel at home, if you are from a rural community you may feel a little intimidated. We suggest putting on a confident urban face and you will be fine."

'I went to hospital, when I came out I couldn't pay the rent'

Jeff has been sleeping rough for three months due to healthcare costs. ( ABC RN: Antony Funnell )

I meet Jeff in the upmarket shopping precinct of Santa Monica. As a sudden downpour of rain explodes overhead I find myself sheltering with him under the awning of a designer clothing store.

He's singing a gospel song and holding a sign asking for help. Suddenly he bends over in a fit of violent coughing. "Are you OK?" I ask, as he rights himself. "God bless you," he replies and we begin talking.

Jeff has been living on the street for three months. "Over there," he says, pointing to a nearby laneway. "It's freezing."

"I've been sick. I went in to hospital and when I came out, I couldn't pay the rent."

Mayor announces plan to eradicate homelessness

The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimate 48.2 million Americans are currently living in poverty — 15.5 per cent of the total US population. Lack of money, they say, is one of the major reasons many ordinary Americans end up living on the street.

In recognition of that, the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, last year increased the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour. He's made addressing the homelessness crisis a central theme of his current re-election bid. Angelenos go to the polls in March.

A woman sweeps outside an LA "tent encampment" set up by the city's homeless population. ( ABC RN: Antony Funnell )

In 2015, Garcetti pledged more than $100 million in funding for the eradication of homelessness in LA, a move that was met with cynicism by some. The city has seen many anti-homelessness initiatives over the years.

"It's time to stop relying on emergency response efforts. The poor and homeless residents have a right to decent, affordable housing," wrote welfare housing advocate Mollie Lowery in 2015.

Late last year, Garcetti had a major win when residents overwhelmingly voted in favour of a new housing program for the homeless championed by the mayor called Proposition HHH.

The project involves establishing a $1.2 billion bond measure to fund construction. If all goes to plan, the scheme will see the construction of 1,000 new apartment units per year over the next decade.

What does Trump mean for the homeless?

But while the future those on the streets of LA might appear more promising, at a national level dark clouds loom.

The latest State of the Homelessness in America report warns that the ongoing recovery of the US housing market has seen basic housing become less affordable for the nation's poor.

And any restructure of federal welfare could have disastrous consequences for the nation's most vulnerable.

US President Donald Trump and his nominee for secretary of housing and urban development, Ben Carson. ( Getty Images: Pool )

President Donald Trump's choice as secretary of the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Ben Carson, is a multi-millionaire neurosurgeon, fundamentalist evangelical Christian, and vocal supporter of the new president's promise to radically cut taxes and reduce government expenditure on non-defence imperatives.

The Washington Post recently highlighted Carson's "philosophical aversion" to social safety-net programs, pointing out that HUD "administers some of the government's most expansive programs for helping minorities and low-income people".

Slate went so far as to call Carson's appointment an "insult to HUD".

Plans to scrap Obamacare

Then there's the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Since 2010 the program has provided funding for substance-abuse treatment and residential care — two areas NGOs see as crucial when it comes to getting people off the streets.

Together with measures enacted by President George W Bush, Obamacare has been credited with helping reduce the level of homelessness across the United States by around 15 per cent since 2007.

The new administration, along with Republican leaders in Congress, has vowed to scrap it.

Donald Trump's chosen candidate as secretary of health, Republican congressman Tom Price, has been a particularly trenchant critic of Obamacare, and has campaigned against the act since it was introduced.

A homeless man lies sleeping on a footpath in LA. ( ABC RN: Antony Funnell )

Writing in the Huffington Post recently, Kevin Corinth from the right-wing think-tank the American Enterprise Institute expressed the wish that Trump should learn from the successes of Bush and Obama while embarking on new measures to "invest in innovative strategies based on better data and experimentation that have a chance at making transformative changes for people living on the margins".

The new administration, he declared, should force housing assistance programs to "compete with one another on how well they are improving the lives of their clients".

Donald Trump has famously pledged to make his country great again and to lift the living standards of ordinary Americans.

Whether that extends to the nation's more than half a million homeless remains to be seen.