WSJ's Take On Homeless Counts…

The Wall Street Journal calls homeless counts limited… The title of the article is, “Ambitious Homeless Count Fills A Void, but Has Its Limitations.”

New York City performed its annual homeless count recently, and a WSJ reporter tagged along.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandates that jurisdictions do a homeless count at least once every two years in order to receive HUD funds. New York City is doing theirs every year.

Los Angeles performed its homeless count in early 2005, and released the results in early 2006. They plan to do it again in 2007.

The WSJ reporter states this about the counts, “The count has significant limitations, and should be considered more of a best effort, given available resources, than a precise census.”

He goes on to say that counts are also subject to the “vagaries of weather.” For example, if it is real cold outside, there may not be as many visible homeless to count.

Interestingly, NYC also utilizes “decoys”, people who pretend to be homeless by dressing up the part. The final count is adjusted upwards based on how many decoys are missed.

I am, of course, a proponent of homeless counts. We can’t solve a problem if we don’t know the extent of it. I think L.A. should be counting every year, or at least “hot spots” (like downtown, Westside, and Hollywood) every year.

Our programs and funding should be accountable to results.