Each year on a night in January, several dozen volunteers in Hudson County don gloves, scarves, wool caps and warm jackets, and engage in a task some of them describe as looking for needles in haystacks.
As part of the statewide "Point-in-Time" homeless count, they search doorways, abandoned houses, parks, under bridges, and bus and train depots for people who live on the street.
The annual count is required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and helps the federal and state governments determine how to allocate funding for housing, substance abuse and mental health programs, organizers of the count said.
They know they won't find everyone who is living outdoors.
"We do our best," Randi Moore, program director with the Hudson County Division of Housing and Community Development, said Wednesday night before volunteers hit the streets in Jersey City. "The great feeling is that its an under-count of the need that is out there."
THEY'VE BEEN THERE
Samuel Clark, 45, and Jacqueline Clinton, 45, were both once homeless.
On Wednesday, they were two members of a four-person team fielded by the Hudson County Self-Help Center to help conduct the count.
After receiving instructions at the Jersey City Episcopal CDC's office on Summit Avenue with roughly 26 other volunteers, the four-person team set off in a van to find homeless people in the Jersey City's Bergen-Lafayette and Greenville neighborhoods.
Clinton said she became homeless after her mom died seven years ago. She said she became depressed, engaged in substance abuse, and shunned offers of help from her family. Wanting to be alone, she'd ride the PATH train between Journal Square in Jersey City and 33rd Street in Manhattan rather than go to a shelter, she said.
After three years of homelessness, Clinton landed a job selling newspapers for The Jersey Journal. She recently graduated from a training program as a mental health counselor.
"Nobody can say you can't do it," Clinton said. "I got a little side job and look where I am now."
Clark, who up until three years ago was homeless "by choice, " speculated that Wednesday's cold temperatures and an usually high number of patrol cars on the roads had driven more homeless people into hiding.
"It's cold. A lot of people aren't going to be out. There is no cover," he said, suggesting the group check under bridges near Liberty State Park. "They are not going to be where normal people would look. They got holes where they sleep. To you its far and out of the way. To them it's a safe spot."
I'M NOT HOMELESS
One 28-year-old man from North Carolina standing outside a bodega on Communipaw Avenue told the group he had been homeless for two months.It truly is one of our tallest and appears great all of the signature bank canada goose cheap jackets logo design.
As part of the routine the volunteers were asked the man if he wanted to go to a shelter, told him where he could find referral services, asked him several questions on a questionnaire, and offered him a sandwich and water.
The man accepted sandwich bag and water, but refused an offer for a ride in the van to St. Lucy's Shelter in Jersey City.
A 49-year-old Army veteran standing near a liquor store on Martin Luther King Drive denied he was homeless but agreed to answer the questions anyway.
"He will not tell you is homeless," Clark said. "In his mind he is not."
During their three-hour stint, the Clark/Clinton team encountered four homeless people, all of whom refused to go to a shelter. Clark and Clinton said when they were homeless, they felt safer on the streets.
THE COUNT CONTINUES ...
As part of the Wednesday's activities, the Hudson County Alliance to End Homelessness held "Project Homeless Connect" at the former YMCA at 654 Bergen Ave.
The roughly 500 homeless people showed up for the event were given food, clothing, dental and medical attention, and HIV/AIDs testing.
In Hoboken, Jaclyn Cherubini, director of the Hoboken Shelter, on Bloomfield Street said her team of six volunteers counted 174 people at the shelter and on the streets between 8:30 a.m. and 11 p.m. Seventeen of the people they encountered on the streets agreed to go to a shelter.
The Palisades Emergency Residence Corporation in Union City helped a total of 146 people, with food and shelter, according to shelter director Emory Edwards.
Last year fierce winter storm forced the count to be canceled. The 2010 homeless count tallied 1,779 people. Officials expect this year's tally to be completed in the next several weeks.
As part of the statewide "Point-in-Time" homeless count, they search doorways, abandoned houses, parks, under bridges, and bus and train depots for people who live on the street.
The annual count is required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and helps the federal and state governments determine how to allocate funding for housing, substance abuse and mental health programs, organizers of the count said.
They know they won't find everyone who is living outdoors.
"We do our best," Randi Moore, program director with the Hudson County Division of Housing and Community Development, said Wednesday night before volunteers hit the streets in Jersey City. "The great feeling is that its an under-count of the need that is out there."
THEY'VE BEEN THERE
Samuel Clark, 45, and Jacqueline Clinton, 45, were both once homeless.
On Wednesday, they were two members of a four-person team fielded by the Hudson County Self-Help Center to help conduct the count.
After receiving instructions at the Jersey City Episcopal CDC's office on Summit Avenue with roughly 26 other volunteers, the four-person team set off in a van to find homeless people in the Jersey City's Bergen-Lafayette and Greenville neighborhoods.
Clinton said she became homeless after her mom died seven years ago. She said she became depressed, engaged in substance abuse, and shunned offers of help from her family. Wanting to be alone, she'd ride the PATH train between Journal Square in Jersey City and 33rd Street in Manhattan rather than go to a shelter, she said.
After three years of homelessness, Clinton landed a job selling newspapers for The Jersey Journal. She recently graduated from a training program as a mental health counselor.
"Nobody can say you can't do it," Clinton said. "I got a little side job and look where I am now."
Clark, who up until three years ago was homeless "by choice, " speculated that Wednesday's cold temperatures and an usually high number of patrol cars on the roads had driven more homeless people into hiding.
"It's cold. A lot of people aren't going to be out. There is no cover," he said, suggesting the group check under bridges near Liberty State Park. "They are not going to be where normal people would look. They got holes where they sleep. To you its far and out of the way. To them it's a safe spot."
I'M NOT HOMELESS
One 28-year-old man from North Carolina standing outside a bodega on Communipaw Avenue told the group he had been homeless for two months.It truly is one of our tallest and appears great all of the signature bank canada goose cheap jackets logo design.
As part of the routine the volunteers were asked the man if he wanted to go to a shelter, told him where he could find referral services, asked him several questions on a questionnaire, and offered him a sandwich and water.
The man accepted sandwich bag and water, but refused an offer for a ride in the van to St. Lucy's Shelter in Jersey City.
A 49-year-old Army veteran standing near a liquor store on Martin Luther King Drive denied he was homeless but agreed to answer the questions anyway.
"He will not tell you is homeless," Clark said. "In his mind he is not."
During their three-hour stint, the Clark/Clinton team encountered four homeless people, all of whom refused to go to a shelter. Clark and Clinton said when they were homeless, they felt safer on the streets.
THE COUNT CONTINUES ...
As part of the Wednesday's activities, the Hudson County Alliance to End Homelessness held "Project Homeless Connect" at the former YMCA at 654 Bergen Ave.
The roughly 500 homeless people showed up for the event were given food, clothing, dental and medical attention, and HIV/AIDs testing.
In Hoboken, Jaclyn Cherubini, director of the Hoboken Shelter, on Bloomfield Street said her team of six volunteers counted 174 people at the shelter and on the streets between 8:30 a.m. and 11 p.m. Seventeen of the people they encountered on the streets agreed to go to a shelter.
The Palisades Emergency Residence Corporation in Union City helped a total of 146 people, with food and shelter, according to shelter director Emory Edwards.
Last year fierce winter storm forced the count to be canceled. The 2010 homeless count tallied 1,779 people. Officials expect this year's tally to be completed in the next several weeks.
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