Homeless sent to count the homeless
Thursday, September 18, 2008 10:27 AM PDT
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — People without a home are obviously difficult to count. So when it was decided to take a census of homeless people living in Corvallis, the job fell to those who knew the best places to search.
Ten homeless people were handed clipboards and survey forms last week and sent to find other homeless people. The census-takers, who were paid $11 an hour, checked in on camps, soup kitchens, bottle-return centers and other places where the homeless tend to congregate.
‘‘We felt they would have better rapport and trust,’’ said Aleita Hass-Holcombe of the Corvallis Homeless Shelter Coalition, which organized the survey that cost $1,500 and was paid for by Benton County.
The teams did not record names or the locations of camps, which helped ease fears. For the most part, Hass-Holcombe said, people were willing to answer a series of questions about their living situations, employment status, military history, access to services and history of homelessness.
‘‘There were a few folks who weren’t too excited about having their camps found and said in no uncertain terms not to come back, but that was only one or two,’’ Hass-Holcombe told the Gazette-Times newspaper.
The survey found 130 people with no fixed address living in and around Corvallis. A separate check of local homeless shelters found 68 people living there, bringing the city’s total homeless population to 198.
While a few people in shelters may have been double-counted, the survey likely missed people living in cars or couch-surfing at the homes of friends and relatives. Others might have been in jail or drug treatment during the count.
Jennifer Ambrosius, 31, and Wayne Edwards, 32, who share a tent in a homeless camp, said they found a wide range of outdoor living arrangements, from individual sleeping areas to communal camps of up to 13 people, but nothing that surprised them.
‘‘I’ve been homeless off and on myself since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,’’ Ambrosius said. ‘‘So I’ve seen a lot of things.’’
