I never heard of it either. So on goes the sherlock holmes hat ...
This came from an old article for a count done here in Rochester ny in 2012 - on a why and how.
"These volunteers are conducting a Point in Time Count for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Count aims to measure homelessness over the course of one night every January. Every year, around the last week of January, volunteers across the country head out into their communities to survey the homeless. The most vital information the volunteers gather are age, gender and the person’s location. If the homeless person is willing to provide more information, the volunteers ask them how long they have homeless, what circumstances led to their homelessness and what sources of income they may have. According to Tree Clemonds, the director of resident services at the Sojurner House, the data collected from the survey is used to determine how much need is in the community. It also used to figure out how much federal funding a community can get to help its homeless population.
Read More at:
http://www.13wham.com/news/features...s/volunteers-conduct-homeless-count-115.shtml
__________________________________
This came from a current article.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...ork-City-to-Count-the-Homeless-291366801.html
(not posting whole thing - but it is an interesting article with assorted facts and figures)
_____
One Night to Count the Homeless: Critics Question Accuracy of Annual Tally
Annual count remains contentious as critics question accuracy
By Noreen O'Donnell
The woman pushing a grocery cart was one of the few out on the streets of downtown Brooklyn after midnight Tuesday as a team of volunteers spread out in search of homeless people trying to keep warm in the frigid air.
Wearing a single mitten in the 20 degree weather and a T-shirt under her jacket, she declined an offer of a van to a shelter. She was the daughter of Coco Chanel and been kidnapped, she told the team at one point.
The volunteers were among a cadre trying to count New York City's homeless population and so they logged her answers to their questionnaire and moved on — though because the early morning was so cold they were making sure no one they encountered was in danger. Last year's count drew 3,000 volunteers and the tally's organizers were hoping for a similar number of volunteers on Monday.
Now in the 10th year, the nationwide estimates of people in shelters and on the streets are required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and they remain contested, particularly over whether they are accurate.
Patrick Markee, the deputy executive director for advocacy at the Coalition for the Homeless in New York, said the survey’s flawed methodology resulted in an undercount of people who are on the streets.
“The idea of doing a single night count or guesstimate of all of homeless people on the streets of New York City, which has the largest homeless population in the country, is just by its very nature kind of absurd,” Markee said.
A better approach would be to talk to staff at soup kitchens, shelters and other front-line organizations and estimate their use over a month, he said.
_________________________
I'm in contact with several shelters downtown here (several students in classes associated with me volunteer to do their required 115 hours a semester fieldwork there) - and none of the agencies websites/facebook pages mentioned this event. Wonder how much funding comes in from the feds based on the "need" aka homeless count?
