Thursday, March 30, 2000
Census seeks homeless amid bushes, trash bins
Those who avoid shelters are pursued
BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — They are among the most elusive, hard-to-count groups in America. Census workers in the Tristate learned that firsthand Wednesday morning as they went on a search for homeless people staying out of shelters. There appeared to be far more census workers outdoors than homeless people.
From 2 a.m. to dawn, workers and volunteers armed with flashlights, clipboards and supplies peered into Dumpsters and checked overgrown, trash-strewn lots looking for the homeless. The same thing was happening in cities across the country.
Previous estimates of local and national homeless populations have varied widely. Wednesday was a nationally designated day for counting the homeless.
“We have to make sure we count everyone,” said Mike Frilling, assistant manager for field operations for the census office in Butler County, minutes after dis patching more than 40 workers and volunteers into the cold night.
But preliminary estimates from his office showed that six homeless people — from Butler and Clermont counties combined — were located and interviewed by census workers during the predawn survey.
Census officials in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky refused to release any early census results, saying they must first be cross-checked with soup kitchen, homeless shelters and halfway-house surveys done earlier this week.
The Blue Ash office of the census handles the rest of Hamilton County. Manager Jim Duff reported that fewer than a dozen homeless people were found, but declined to give details.
Local and national homeless totals will not be available until all census data is compiled and released in December, they said.
“At this point we really don't know,” said Marc Bergman, local census office manager for Covington, whose office covers 16 Kentucky counties including Boone, Campbell and Kenton.
He said about 50 census workers and volunteers surveyed Northern Kentucky homeless locations, which are officially referred to by census officials as “targeted, nonsheltered, outdoor locations.”
Butler County census officials, whose office also covers Clermont, Warren and Preble counties, blamed the mid-30s temperatures for the relatively low count. Cold weather drove the homeless into abandoned homes and buildings that census takers were ordered to avoid entering for safety reasons. They also said recent publicity about the homeless census effort also made those who are rarely seen even more scarce this week.
“The homeless read the paper and they talk to each other,” said Hamilton City Councilwoman Kathy Becker shortly after discovering recently abandoned bedding on the dirt floor of a baseball field dugout in Crawford Woods Park.
“And when it gets cold, the homeless head for abandoned buildings. There are a lot of abandoned homes in Hamilton,” said Ms. Becker, who is also co-chairwoman of the Butler County Coalition for the Homeless and estimates that there are about 200 homeless in Hamilton alone and about 1,000 throughout the county.
The team of a half-dozen census workers and volunteers joined Ms. Becker in searching Hamilton-area woods, junkyards, parks and school grounds where the homeless are known to sleep and live. They slogged through muddy fields, cautiously opened Dumpsters and peered by flashlight into dense thickets of trash-strewn woods.
“We found the signs of them being here,” she said, but added that many of the homeless, by nature, are not inclined to be approached by anyone, much less strangers with flashlights.
The 2 to 6 a.m. time frame was chosen, said Ms. Becker, because it was after bars and restaurants close.
U.S. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said this census is expected to yield more accurate counts of the homeless than the last national census because officials are working more closely with local homeless advocates such as Ms. Becker.
“We think what we have in place today, because of cooperation from advocacy groups and local leaders, will help us get a much better count than 10 years ago,” Mr. Prewitt said in a statement.
Census officials will use statistical methods to ensure they do not double-count people they may find in two different places. The Census Bureau says it undercounted about 1.4 percent of the total population in 1990 and placed the number of homeless in 1990 at about 400,000. The Clinton administration has estimated there are about 600,000 people in the country without fixed addresses.
The census is important to communities because it helps determine how much state and federal funds are allotted for schools, social services, job training and many other services.
Gunman sought in fatal I-75 shooting
Sleepy? Put blame where it belongs
Officer apologizes for insult
Tax complaint may lead to change
Tax plan benefits non-public schools
Child rape case 'heartbreaking'
Death of 2-year-old described
Ruling may affect local nude dancing
Census seeks homeless amid bushes, trash bins
Drive-by killer no show in court
Watchdog keeps county on its toes
Margaret Thatcher to visit city Friday
Message to trucks removed
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Report: Ohio's charter schools get poor grades
Some doubt usefulness of lowered alcohol limit
Baseball treasures catch top dollar
Ailey show is paradise for purists
GET TO IT
Group works to bring outdoor drama to area
Ohio natives know enough to make movie in Maui
TRISTATE DIGEST
AROUND THE COMMONWEALTH
Carlisle School Board member departing, but not going far
Colerain gets spring cleanup
Council: Keep recruit class
Culture celebration is a real mixer
Drug strike force chief quits
Former deejay's death suspicious
Hamilton schools buy building for offices, training center
Ky. House passes firearms bill
Lebanon council must fill empty seat
Legislators stalemate over budget
Morrow man guilty of setting bar fire
N. Ky. studying east-west route
President of mental retardation board quits
Wyoming development on hold
