[HPN] HOMELESS CENSUS - Who would benefit? Who would lose? What? Why?

[Tom Boland]

Who could benefit and lose from a census of homeless people?  What?  Why?

See below for a related article:

http://www10.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Homeless-Count.html
FWD  New York Times - February 25, 2000

     SOME SOUP KITCHENS REJECT CENSUS

     By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Salvation Army will keep the doors to over
500 of its soup kitchens shut to census takers looking to compile
information from homeless people, claiming the presence of
government workers could scare the homeless away from services they
desperately need.

The policy by the Salvation Army, one of the country's largest
service providers to the homeless, could hurt the Census Bureau's
already difficult task of counting that population. The bureau is
relying on advocacy groups, shelters and soup kitchens to help with
the effort.

``The legal counsel has said that we will drive people away who
desperately need to be fed,'' Lt. Col. Tom Jones, national
community relations and development secretary for the Salvation
Army, told The Associated Press on Friday. ``We've been in the
business of feeding people over 125 years.''

The Salvation Army is concerned about the Census count of the
homeless, Jones said, ``but obviously our primary concern is to
feed people.''

Census officials said it was unclear if the bureau was
previously notified of the Salvation Army's decision, and declined
additional comment.

The census occurs every 10 years. The first forms will be
delivered to homes in early March, and households are asked to mail
it back to the bureau.

The process is different for the homeless since there are no
permanent addresses to mail surveys to. Census workers will instead
fan out to shelters, soup kitchens and street corners for three
days in late March to count that population.

The Salvation Army policy affects 520 temporary housing shelters
that also serve meals. Census workers will be able to talk to
residents of the facility, but not to those people who use it
solely for meals, Jones said.

Mayors across the country consider the homeless survey an
important factor to producing a more accurate count of city
populations. The more people a city has, the bigger chunk of
federal funding it gets.

Census officials estimate it undercounted about 1.4 percent of
the population in 1990. They presume that most of the undercounted
are minorities, inner-city residents, and the homeless.

In 1998, the Salvation Army said it housed 622,867 people in its
shelters, and served over 32 million people total, including both
homeless people and those needing emergency assistance because of
fire or natural disaster.

The Clinton administration has estimated there are about 600,000
people in the country without fixed addresses.

The bureau has a tough job ahead even if the Salvation Army did
allow access into its dining facilities, said Mary Ann Gleason,
director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

``We empathize with the challenges of the Census Bureau. It's an
awesome task,'' she said.

``What we really have to be clear about is that it's not an
actual count of the homeless population. It's a service-based
enumeration that counts people who receive some services some of
the time,'' Gleason added.

END FORWARD

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