Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990 TAG: 9003221954
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I think some of the guys were impressed with that," said Joy Sylvester-Johnson, director of development at the City Rescue Mission.
"They were like, `Hey, I got the long one. I must be more important.' For a lot of them, it made them feel better about themselves," she said.
In fact, being asked by census workers to complete the longer census survey didn't mean they were more important in the least. It simply meant they got lucky.
Every sixth person counted this year by the Census Bureau will be asked at random to fill out the long form. That includes homeowners, renters, even the homeless, who were counted for the first time ever overnight Tuesday in Roanoke.
The count went smoothly, according to census officials and homeless shelter representatives. For their part, the homeless were mostly cooperative. Police reported no problems.
"We were well-received," said Matthew Duffy, district office manager for the Roanoke census office. "It went very well. The only problems we had were with photographers interfering in our operations." The Census Bureau is almost fanatical about maintaining confidentiality. No other federal agency has access to census records and the bureau generally frowns on photographers.
Still, television and newspaper journalists in Roanoke and across the country worked Tuesday night to capture the first-ever homeless count in print and on film.
But photographers aside, Duffy said all the shelter locations provided to his office by city officials and the street count both were completed on deadline.
However, he declined to comment on the number of people counted Tuesday night in Roanoke. Those figures and other homeless data won't be released until April 1991.
Only Justice House, operated by David Hayden, boycotted the census in Roanoke. Hayden has been an outspoken critic of the homeless count by the federal government, who he says will use it to cut funding for homeless programs.
"They came by and dropped off the packet, but we didn't partake," said Hayden's wife, Suzanne.
Sylvester-Johnson reported only one person of the 79 who slept at the Rescue Mission overnight Tuesday who was negative about the census.
"But he's mentally ill and he's negative about everything," she said. "He was holding philosophical discussions on the census, but he was also arguing with people about the soup."
The rest cooperated willingly, she said.
"I think they felt like everybody else for once. And that was good," she said. "We spend a lot of time telling our people down here they're important and they count. This validated that."
At the Salvation Army's Red Shield Lodge for Homeless, director Larry Mullins said they prepared the homeless there for the census by explaining the impact it could have on future funding for homeless relief.
"It was something I think they felt would be in their best interest," Mullins said.
Only one person was counted by census workers at the TRUST shelter, according to its director, Stu Israel, because only one person stayed there Tuesday night .
"I don't know if people were trying to stay away or not," he said.
TRUST can sleep 15 people and normally averages about five to eight people per night. The shelter caters primarily to homeless families.
Israel said that some homeless parents, however, avoid being interviewed by local, state or federal agencies for fear of losing their children.
"That might have been a factor. Then again, I don't know how many homeless people actually knew the count was being taken," he said.
Israel also wondered if taking the homeless census during the cold weather season would ensure an accurate count. His shelter is always more crowded during warm months.
"It doesn't seem to make sense, but in a way it does. People who are on the edge are a little more cautious about keeping a job when it's cold. I'm not talking about the chronically homeless. I'm talking about those who are homeless from time to time," he said.
Duffy at the Census Bureau explained: "It's done now because this is the time the census is taken."
by CNB