Latest news with #PointinTimeCount
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Multnomah County launches by-name database for tracking homeless population
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Multnomah County has launched its long-awaited count of the region's homeless population — with each person tracked by name. The county's — formerly known as the — is now able track those who have stayed in a shelter, met with a street outreach worker, signed up for housing services or visited local day centers. 'Ticking time bomb': Oregon lawmakers consider funds for Cascadia-ready Columbia Boulevard bridge This information will be posted to the county's every month in order to provide the most up-to-date record of how many people have entered and exited homelessness, according to county leaders. 'This accurate and timely data is a major milestone that provides increased transparency and accountability while helping frontline workers, decision-makers, and the whole community make progress that we can more easily track and therefore achieve,' Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement. The dashboard shares how many people are currently receiving rent assistance on a monthly basis, whereas that data used to be shared every three months. It also tracks whether people were able to leave homelessness for housing. John Tapogna, the senior policy advisor for ECOnorthwest said housing data — including how much housing is currently available — is crucial to ending homelessness. 'The root of our homelessness crisis is housing affordability,' he said. 'Local governments have sheltered and housed more people than ever — outperforming the goals set under the ambitious Supportive Housing Services measure — but the need continues to outpace the available resources.' Pickup plows through Vancouver brewery; driver hurt This data, combined with Multnomah County's real-time shelter availability, will make it easier for the county to ensure those experiencing homelessness are receiving the care they need. Prior to the by-name list, county leaders used to rely on the Point in Time Count to record how many people were experiencing homelessness, as determined by the federally-required Homeless Management Information System. However, officials said this data county meant the same unnamed person could be counted more than once. Multnomah County took over the information system in March 2024, allowing them to gather fresh data with people listed by name to improve tracking. 'This is an important milestone and provides a path for actionable, data-informed decisions aimed at making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring,' Meghan Arsenault, the county's senior strategy lead for community solutions. The dashboard also reveals that the number of people experiencing homelessness has increased over the past year due to several factors, including housing shortages, evictions, expanded services, and better data collection. Oregon bill aiming to crack down on costly concert tickets gets 'do-pass' recommendation However, leaders say this increase is a sign that the county's data has improved by reflecting the number of people who have been 'experiencing homelessness all along, but had not previously been counted.' 'Our region has a new baseline from which to anchor strategy and performance,' Central City Concern CEO Andrew B. Mendenhall said. 'We are saddened, but not surprised by this data.' It also comes as the Homeless Services Department faces criticism for its projected in the next fiscal year. Stay with KOIN 6 News as we continue to cover the homeless crisis. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
Outrage prompts upcoming town hall as homeless population balloons in South MS
Homeless residents in Biloxi are daily strapping their possessions to their backs or pushing them along downtown streets in shopping carts after being forced from camps on the old Broadwater golf course, where they found an overgrown refuge amid a bustling city. Some people lived on the land for years, building houses jerry-rigged from scraps, says the housing case manager at Back Bay Mission in Biloxi. And some are still there, although their ranks are thinning as heavy machinery chews through dense underbrush on portions of the 266-acre property. Those displaced from longtime camping spots wonder where they are supposed to go, advocates for homeless people say. The Coast has no emergency shelter. Fearful neighbors have over the years killed numerous plans to build one in Biloxi and Gulfport. After repeated complaints about the Broadwater property, the Biloxi City Council has decided to host a Town Hall meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Civic Center on Howard Avenue. The agenda says the discussion will center on citywide homelessness, the Broadwater property, surrounding areas and related issues. Homelessness is not going away. Annual surveys conducted nationwide on a single night in January, when workers fan out for what is called the Point in Time Count, show an increase of 35% in the homeless population over a two-year period in South Mississippi's six counties. Agencies across South Mississippi work toward temporary and permanent housing for those who qualify under various programs but need far outpaces supply. 'What is happening here is no different from what is happening across this country,' said Dena Wittmann, executive director of the Open Doors Homeless Coalition. 'Homelessness is a symptom of larger social issues. It is dangerous to try to attribute what is going on to individual issues or problems that people are having. There's a trend afoot.' Homeless people and property owners near the Broadwater co-existed peacefully for years. But in recent years, residents and business owners have been increasingly disturbed by vandalism, theft, uncontrolled blazes, prostitution and fights at all hours emanating from the camps. The property owners, Roy Anderson III and Cotton Fore of Broadwater Development LLC, bought the resort months before Katrina devastated it in August 2005. Plans for a casino have failed to materialize, but the state is renovating the marina on the south side of U.S. 90, a favorite spot for homeless people with vehicles before it was recently fenced off for the construction work. Anderson and Fore were allowing homeless campers on the Broadwater property, but began clearing it at the city's request. They also put up no trespassing signs as a warning to squatters. City leaders acted after residents of the Greater Southern Subdivision repeatedly blasted them over the property's condition and unsupervised, untended camps. 'There's 20 years' worth of people pooping in there,' said resident Bob Silvestro, who has gotten to know some of the homeless campers, sympathizes with their plights and has helped some find housing. Resident Shelley Kendall called the city's attitude 'selective enforcement.' A city code enforcement officer came calling shortly after she bought two of her three properties in the neighborhood, insisting she cut back the undergrowth. She spent $12,000 on cleanup, she said. Meanwhile, garbage has piled up at the Broadwater, including spent propane bottles, abandoned tents and furniture, old wooden pallets, countless shopping carts and piles upon piles of clothes. 'There's filth and garbage and hazmat (hazardous material),' she said. 'It's horrific.' Roy Anderson said that he and Fore have been cooperating with the city by clearing the land when requested and putting up no trespassing signs. 'We've been trying to secure the property and develop the property,' he said. Kendall has put up with theft, too. While out of state, she watched on a camera as one of the homeless men loaded her outdoor air conditioning unit onto a wagon and pulled it off with a rope tied to a bicycle. The police said she would have to come to the department to file a report, but she was watching the camera from Vermont. Business owners along Beauvoir Road report similar frustrations. Longtime business Furniture Galore & More backs up to the northwestern boundary of the Broadwater property. Owner Tommy Craft strung razor wire across the top of his fence to keep out homeless people. Undeterred, vandals have cut holes in his fence five times, at one point maneuvering a box fan from his property to the Broadwater. His wife, co-owner Melonie Craft, couldn't imagine what the campers would do with a box fan, but then she saw that they were powering the fan with extension cords connected to an electrical outlet at one of the businesses. Tommy Craft had to cut back holly bushes he had planted 22 years earlier and remove screening from air conditioning units on his building's north side because people were camping behind the bushes and under the raised units. At the end of a weekend, campers left behind wigs, blankets, pillows, shoes, clothes, syringes and more. He would rake everything into a tarp, tie it up and throw it in the dumpster. Maegan Maddox, owner of Miss Mae's Pre-K, which also backs up to the Broadwater property on Beauvoir, said she had to call public safety seven times in 2024 over uncontrolled fires, some near the fence line. 'It's just nightmare after nightmare,' said Maddox, who is moving her pre-K to the other side of Beauvoir, where she has a learning academy for older children. 'There's such a massive homeless problem here,' she said. 'If they kick them out, they're just going to go somewhere else.' Clifton 'Pops' Williams, 65, was homeless not so long ago in Biloxi and Baltimore and Florida and Texas and Washington D.C. and New York and a whole lot of other places. He is from Pascagoula and graduated high school in Moss Point. He dates his struggles to 1999, when he and his wife were in a car accident. He woke up from a coma three days later to learn his wife of 20 years had died instantly. He could never get over losing the woman who knew him so well that she finished his sentences. He worked, he said, but was unable to hold down any job for long. 'I decided to go homeless in 2015,' Williams said. 'I said, 'Well, I'm just going to the woods. That way, I won't have to pay nobody.' He lived for a time as a hobo, hopping trains and landing in different places. He met a few kind people along the way and even worked on a Quaker farm for a while. But he also got those sidelong glances and eye rolls that homeless people so often encounter. Williams prided himself on dressing neatly and staying clean-shaven, even when he was living in the woods. It wasn't easy. 'I always tried to hustle and get me some clothes,' he said. He befriended restaurant workers for scraps. Without a home, Williams survived heart surgery and cancer. He recuperated, he said, in someone's garage in Texas. He returned to the Deep South in 2018, living for a time in New Orleans before making his way back to the Coast and the old abandoned campus of Mercy Cross High School, also devastated by Katrina. Many homeless people were living on the isolated property. Williams said all sorts of things were happening, including robberies. He saw other men with long, scraggly hair and beards. 'They done gave up on life,' he said. Somehow, he did not. He read his Bible, went to church every chance he got and counseled his fellow campers, some of whom called him Dr. Phil. But Williams had problems of his own. In addition to heart trouble, he was losing his eyesight. One of his buddies told Williams about the Open Doors Homeless Coalition. 'They help homeless people,' his buddy said. 'I don't believe that,' Williams responded. Nonetheless, he called Open Doors. Cathy Pitalo, a planning coordinator at Open Doors, and a colleague 'knocked' on Williams' tent a couple of days later. Within another two days, she had found him an apartment. Pitalo said she started crying when she went to pick up Williams. He was standing outside his tent with a duffel bag, one sock up, the other down. She said, 'The first words out of his mouth were, 'You came.' ' Organizations that assist homeless people work with a variety of programs, always with the goal of helping their clients become self-sufficient. Williams was able to move into an apartment because he qualified for a program that offered rental assistance. He also was signed up for food pantries. He was lonesome, so Pitalo helped him adopt a shelter cat named Felix. About three months ago, he moved into a Gulfport apartment building for senior citizens that is sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Biloxi. Rent is based on income. Various groups donated furniture. Pitalo has also made sure that Williams gets support — training and equipment — available to the blind, plus assistance through Medicaid with light housekeeping and shopping. Coast Transit Authority picks up residents for shopping and appointments. Williams now wishes he could get a job. He's glad to have a roof over his head. He said the worst thing about being homeless was sitting in the rain. 'It's strange,' he said. 'I appreciate all the people who helped me along the way, especially Open Doors.' His voice cracked as he continued: 'They made me realize that life is worth living, that somebody cared. 'Love thy neighbor. That's what Jesus said.' Williams is one of the 1,100 households that have found stable housing in the past two years in South Mississippi through Open Doors and the agencies that partner with it, Executive Director Wittmann said. Still, the homeless population continues to grow. 'We are seeing a lot of new faces,' Wittmann said, with an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The cost of rent, in some cases, simply outpaces pay. Homeless advocates have seen no evidence that other localities are dropping off busloads of homeless people on the Mississippi Coast, as rumors fueled by fear sometimes indicate. Instead, Wittmann said, individuals come to South Mississippi seeking jobs, cheaper housing or a milder climate. Homelessness, she said, is a complex problem. Lack of affordable housing, untreated mental illness, substance abuse disorders, unexpected bills and other issues can all lead to homelessness. 'The issue is that homelessness is multi-faceted,' Wittmann said. 'There is no quick fix and each situation is different.' 'It is a complex social problem that requires a community response.' She said South Mississippi needs emergency shelter for homeless people and the case managers trying to help them. A Supreme Court decision that allows cities to ban the homeless from sleeping or camping in public places means the population could continue to grow here, she said. But support for emergency shelter has been hard to build. The city of Biloxi in 2017 considered putting a homeless shelter at the old Beauvoir Elementary School, which sat just north of the Broadwater property. Residents objected. More than one person has pointed out the irony of rejecting a shelter while homeless people lived nearby in the woods, with no trash receptacles, security, laundry room or other essential services. 'Some of the encampments were so massive, it was like communities,' said Michael Rowan, the lead housing case manager at Back Bay Mission, which provides homeless services in East Biloxi. He has visited the property multiple times. He saw makeshift houses with walls, rooms, artwork and furniture. One veteran had a kitchen table with chairs and a tablecloth. Rowan has also met families, people with pets and a veteran in a wheelchair. Since the no trespassing signs went up, homeless people are on the move. This makes them harder to locate when a home or other services have been secured for them. 'People aren't setting up camps anymore,' Rowan said. 'They're moving hour by hour, night by night.' And some people, he said, are following the train tracks until they reach Gulfport, where they can still find woods to camp out of sight. 'The need outpaces the resources,' Wittmann said. 'That is the issue.'
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tim Keller seeks to make history, officially launches reelection bid
Mar. 13—Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller has formally launched his reelection campaign, seeking to become the first mayor elected to three consecutive terms. His announcement comes at a time when tensions are flaring with the city council; voters have favored charter amendments that chip away at the strong mayor system, and crime and homelessness are top of mind for residents. "I see what you see: the challenges with homelessness, with crime, with empty buildings, but I also see that we're finally getting traction on some of these big challenges," Keller said in a campaign ad released Thursday. Homelessness —in line with the national trend — has increased since Keller was elected. In 2017, the year before Keller took office, the annual Point in Time Count recorded 1,318 people experiencing homelessness in Albuquerque. In 2024 the same study counted 2,740 people sleeping on the streets in the city. Since his election, Keller's administration has focused on and spent millions on the Gateway network of shelters, which has a capacity of just over 800 beds and offers resources for medical and housing services. Keller also touts that crime numbers are down in the advertisement. Albuquerque Police Department crime stats indicate that property crime has steadily declined since Keller assumed office in 2018, whereas violent crime has experienced fluctuations. In August, Keller confirmed his intention to run for a third term and told KOAT-TV that he was doing so to "finish key projects." He was not made available for comment Thursday. His formal announcement to pursue a third term comes after a year when the City Council made multiple attempts to change the city charter, including a change that would have no longer required a 50% majority for a candidate to win the mayoral election; — Keller vetoed it. But voters approved a pair of charter changes in November 2024. The change boosts the council's power to fire police and fire chiefs and requires the council and mayor's office to quickly fill seats on a committee that aims to address separation of powers issues. Keller's announcement also comes on the heels of a meeting when city councilors overwhelmingly overturned a veto from and sided on a 7-2 vote with the local firefighter's union to override staffing changes from the fire chief appointed by Keller. The incumbent mayor will face off against former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, conservative radio show host Eddy Aragon, former Sandoval County Deputy County Manager Mayling Armijo, retired firefighter Eddie Varela and Patrick Sais, who garnered approximately 30 write-in votes during the last mayoral election. Additionally, City Councilor Louie Sanchez — one of the most vocal critics of Keller and Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina — told local non-profit news outlet City Desk that he is eyeing a run for mayor. Keller was first elected in a runoff election in 2017 and easily held on to his seat in 2021. The Regular Local Election, which also includes the seats in City Council Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, is slated for Nov. 4. The only mayor in the city's history to serve three terms was Martin J. Chávez from 1993 to 1997 and 2001 to 2009.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Odessa Links releases Point in Time count
Mar. 10—Since last year, the number of homeless people in Odessa has increased, according to the annual Point in Time Count conducted by trained volunteers Jan. 23. Odessa Links, in association with the Texas Homeless Network, Odessa Homeless Coalition and volunteers from the community, conducted Odessa's 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) Homeless Count. On Monday, they presented their findings at the City of Odessa Municipal Plaza. The volunteers conducted a count and survey of people in the community staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and unsheltered locations such as outdoor encampments, streets, cars, and other places not meant for habitation. The count provides a 24-hour "snapshot" for the number of people experiencing homelessness and the key characteristics of individuals and families, a news release detailed. The PIT Count results indicate the minimum number of people experiencing homelessness in the community on any given night. However, other forms of homelessness, such as temporarily staying with friends or having enough funds for a hotel or motel, are not included in the PIT Count, under United States Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines. As a result, the PIT Count data only represents a fraction of the homeless population in Odessa, the release stated. The count found that the total number of unsheltered people in Odessa was 212 compared to 135 in 2024. In 2023, it was 68 and in 2022, 60. Of the 212, 126 were sheltered homeless and 86 were unsheltered. The increased count was likely due to the frigid weather that came through the area during the count time period, Jesus Gomez, Odessa Homeless Coalition coordinator, said. Sheltered homelessness are people or families staying at the Salvation Army, Jesus House, Door of Hope or Crisis Center of West Texas, for example, and are receiving support or case management services. Unsheltered people are living in uninhabitable circumstances, like an abandoned building, or their car, and not having access to water and other services, Gomez said. Andrea Quiroz, executive director of Odessa Links, acknowledged key partners in the count. "The City of Odessa has partnered up with us this year, Community Development, code enforcers (and the) Odessa Police Department. We had officers go out to the encampments. The geointelligence, they helped out tremendously, because they actually mapped out those encampments that were given to us by the code enforcers and police department, which made it very simple and easy for our volunteers to know the actual location of where they were at," Quiroz said. She expressed appreciation to city leadership and Councilman Greg Connell who connected Odessa Links with the other city departments. "We couldn't have done this without our community organizations — our shelters, Jesus House, Crisis Center, Family Promise of Odessa, Door of Hope, and, of course, the Salvation Army of Odessa and several community volunteers," Quiroz said. She added that they collaborated this year with the Midland Homeless Coalition. The Texas Homeless Network also spoke to a city-wide Homeless Coalition meeting and has been working hard to make sure they don't have duplication or services or a duplicated count. "But most importantly, as I always say, those are just numbers. There's a person behind that number," Quiroz said. The PIT Count tells what the impact of homelessness is on the community. It also helps people understand what the needs are, how people are impacted and what can be done as a community help those that are impacted by homelessness. Before and after the PIT Count, they tried to prevent duplication by preparing bags with different kinds of snacks, survival guides, blankets, gloves and hand warmers, Gomez said. The bags and their colors were an identifier to the team so they knew by the bag or backpack that they had already been approached. The Salvation Army also used wrist bands for that purpose, Gomez said. Odessa Links also distributed bus passes for homeless people so they could have access to transportation. Connell said there were two groups — one that counted at shelters and one, that he went with, went to the tents. "It was a cold morning that morning, we were taking hot coffee and sandwich food, that type of thing to them. I slept in a warm, comfortable bed and these individuals, were out in a tent with a ground surface floor, with no heating. It's just amazing. But, homeless in general, people say that they're somewhere. Well, actually, they're here; they're all around us ... Every homeless situation affects me, but the the two that really affect me personally as a veteran would be our veterans that are out there. Second would be children that are involved. We just have to have a safety net for (these) individuals. "I've told a story one time, and I think it's very applicable that life, as we all can experience individually, is a juggling act. Those balls are car payments, rent, mortgage, health issues that come up. If too many of those balls drop at the same time ... we're homeless," Connell said. He added that this was depicted in the movie "No Address" where normal, everyday families found themselves homeless because too many balls dropped. "From the city aspect, we have some development people here that are doing some beautiful things with building homes for those that qualify for it. The city does what the city can, but we are mainly focused on medical services, police services and zoning and everything it takes to run a city. I'm really thankful for the Odessa Homeless Coalition that we have been putting together, because that is something that's workable, that we can do. That is a coalition of the nonprofits, the churches, organizations, all the resources and tools," Connell said. He added that he has visited the Door of Hope and Salvation Army shelters. "We do have ongoing shelters, and we do also have programs set to help people that are low income with groceries and food and things like that. We have a lot of things going, but this needs to be a continued push and an effort to strengthen that coalition, to bring those services where they're effective, for our homeless," Connell said. On March 12, Gomez, Connell and Oscar Romo, Odessa Links case manager, are going to Austin for Texas Capitol Day for Homelessness. "We will be before the legislators and state representatives. We will be talking to them about the impact (of homelessness) in our community, what the needs are in our community, how can we improve in that aspect (and) how they can support us. ... Following that meeting, we will have a scheduled steering committee (meeting). "The steering committee is the members that are part of the Odessa Homeless Coalition that helps us determine the direction of how and what we need to do to improve the homeless situation in Odessa," Gomez said. Gomez added that he wants to make legislators aware of what's going on in the community. "I think that, because we're a hub for oil, there's this thought process that nobody's suffering and everybody's raking in the cash. But that's not the reality. There are real people having real circumstances, dealing with real difficult issues. One of the families that we were able to assist was a gentleman, a single father with two kids. ... When they came into our program, (we were) able to connect them to training. ... From that training, they were able to escalate in their organization, the workforce, to the point where they didn't need our services anymore, so that was great. That's a success story. We do still do follow-ups accordingly, as Andrea mentioned, just to check in, making sure that they're continuing to exercise the principles that we teach them through case management," he added. Working at Odessa Links and the Homeless Coalition has given Gomez a different perspective on what homelessness is. "It's (given) me the perspective that ... some people are not addicts; they just had a rough situation. They went through divorce, medical issues, loss of a job, different things that sometimes don't prepare us for what comes in the next season," Gomez said. Odessa Point in Time count Total: 212 — Number of children (under age 18): 42 — Number of youth (18-24): 6 — Number of adults (25-34): 35 — Number of adults (35-44): 54 — Number of adults (45-54): 31 — Number of adults (55-64): 31 — Number of adults (age 65 or older): 13 — Observed age 25 or older: 0 — Unknown Age: 0 — Chronically Homeless: 24 — Veterans: 10
Chicago Tribune
04-02-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
Point in Time census offers glimpse into suburban homelessness
After years of conducting annual counts to gauge how many people in the area are experiencing homelessness, the team from La Grange-based BEDS Plus have a good idea where to look. 'We come up with hot spots, where we've either met with people in the past or areas where we think people might be,' said Zac Catrambone, BEDS Plus manager of street outreach. Those hot spots include hospital emergency rooms, libraries and gas stations, as well as less obvious places, Catrambone said. 'Twenty-four hour laundromats, park district buildings, or parking garages, like the La Grange Parking Garage on the third floor,' he listed. 'In the winter they rope off that top deck and it's heated up there. (If) they're not able to go to any shelter, or they don't want to go to a shelter … it's a place where they can get out of the elements.' Catrambone was advising volunteers taking part in the annual Point in Time Count on Jan. 29. Sponsored by the Alliance to End Homelessness, the effort serves as a 'homeless census,' on both a national and a local level, giving various organizations solid information on how many people in the area are experiencing homelessness and where they are. 'The Chicagoland area started doing this in about 2013,' Catrambone said as volunteers were assigned to areas throughout the west and southwest suburbs. 'Our areas that we are responsible for tonight are basically La Grange, La Grange Park, McCook, Hodgkins, then we go down to Oak Lawn, Chicago Ridge, Bridgeview, Summit, Justice … all the way down to Orland Park.' Catrambone said the amount of people contacted during the Point in Time count has varied from year to year, 'especially during years where it's really cold, people tend to go to warning centers and might not be found.' While the BEDS Plus home base is in La Grange, the organizing point this year was at the nonprofit's Linda Sokol Francis Summit Service Center at 7666 W. 63rd Street in nearby Summit, Illinois. Opened in 2023, the center in Summit has 18 beds and provides acute and post-acute medical care for homeless people who are too ill or vulnerable to recover on the street, but don't qualify for further hospitalization or nursing home care. Besides the La Grange facility and the Summit Service Center, Beds Plus also has a triage shelter on Cicero Avenue in Chicago, and provides temporary housing at the American Inn in Countryside. The group also has several 'bridge units' that are leased in the agency's name where people can stay until they are matched to a housing program. Catrambone said that these units were typically used for families and people fleeing domestic violence. BEDS Plus had 22 volunteers out for the Jan. 29 count, including four people with the lived experience of being housing challenged. 'It was a good event last night,' Catrambone said the following day. The volunteers began canvassing their territories around 6:45 p.m. and finished around midnight, making contact with eight people and interviewing four of them, who BEDS Plus representatives will follow up with. Point in Time also provided an opportunity to check in with people who've been on the streets for a while, including one person near La Grange Village Hall who 'we know pretty well.' 'The person at Village Hall was usually in the parking structure, but was outside today, ' he said. Once BEDS Plus is able to make contact, they can offer help. 'I do housing paperwork for them and try and connect them with programs throughout suburban Cook County,' said Rick Maltese, who's been with BEDS Plus for four years as an assessor. 'So the paperwork gets uploaded into our system and they become eligible to get the program matches.' Volunteer Jack Rudzinski said the importance of gauging the extent of homelessness is vital because it illustrates the need for funding and programs nationwide. 'The point is to determine funding for the next year's homeless programs,' he said. 'Hey, this is how many homeless we have, and this is why we need to allocate funding. So it's super important to have people out here doing this, as many as we can out canvassing, looking for folks. Not only are we helping the folks that we find tonight, but we're also helping the entire country by making the government aware of how widespread the problem is, and how much needs to be done.'
