Although students received the U.S. Census Bureau survey in their WesBoxes, for the 750,000 homeless Americans, the survey was conducted the old fashioned way—by counting.

Starting on March 31, the U.S. Census Bureau began conducting a nationwide count of homeless residents town by town. The count took place over three days, with census workers literally scouring the corners and under the bridges of counties between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m. The Census teams looked in parking lots, woods, and overpasses, searching out places where the homeless are likely to sleep.

“It was a three-day program where we went to a number of different areas—shelters, soup kitchens, and mobile food vans,” said Scott Thompson of the Norwich, Conn. Census Bureau, which is also in charge of Middletown’s count. “Then we had an evening where we went out to count people. Since this is a transitory population, we want to count everyone, but not twice.”

Originally, the evening Census count was scheduled for the same date across the country. Middletown, however, delayed its count due to flood warnings, when the team knew many homeless people would likely seek emergency shelter. Instead, the count took place the following evening, April 1.  Despite 90 workers searching 50 sites in four surrounding counties—including several sites in Middletown—the team found no homeless people.

“It is my personal opinion that it was a function of the weather,” Thompson said. “While the homeless weren’t found, there was evidence like wet blankets and wet books. It definitely seemed like people had been living there in the not-so-distant past.”

The office hopes most people were counted at alternative locations like soup kitchens, food banks, or churches.

Because counting takes place both during the day and at night, the Census team takes measures to ensure that there are no duplicate counts.

“We ask five questions on the form: name, birth date, sex, race, and ethnicity,” Thompson explained. “If the name and birth date show up twice in the same area there’s a reconciliation process that eliminates duplication. We acknowledge that it’s not a perfect system. It’s a hard population to count and there might be a certain amount of distrust with government officials. But those are the challenges of the Census.”

Before starting the three-day home Although students received the U.S. Census Bureau survey in their WesBoxes, for the 750,000 homeless Americans, the survey was conducted the old fashioned way—by counting.

Starting on March 31, the U.S. Census Bureau began conducting a nationwide count of homeless residents town by town. The count took place over three days, with census workers literally scouring the corners and under the bridges of counties between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m. The Census teams looked in parking lots, woods, and overpasses, searching out places where the homeless are likely to sleep.

“It was a three-day program where we went to a number of different areas—shelters, soup kitchens, and mobile food vans,” said Scott Thompson of the Norwich, Conn. Census Bureau, which is also in charge of Middletown’s count. “Then we had an evening where we went out to count people. Since this is a transitory population, we want to count everyone, but not twice.”

Originally, the evening Census count was scheduled for the same date across the country. Middletown, however, delayed its count due to flood warnings, when the team knew many homeless people would likely seek emergency shelter. Instead, the count took place the following evening, April 1.  Despite 90 workers searching 50 sites in four surrounding counties—including several sites in Middletown—the team found no homeless people.

“It is my personal opinion that it was a function of the weather,” Thompson said. “While the homeless weren’t found, there was evidence like wet blankets and wet books. It definitely seemed like people had been living there in the not-so-distant past.”

The office hopes most people were counted at alternative locations like soup kitchens, food banks, or churches.

Because counting takes place both during the day and at night, the Census team takes measures to ensure that there are no duplicate counts.

“We ask five questions on the form: name, birth date, sex, race, and ethnicity,” Thompson explained. “If the name and birth date show up twice in the same area there’s a reconciliation process that eliminates duplication. We acknowledge that it’s not a perfect system. It’s a hard population to count and there might be a certain amount of distrust with government officials. But those are the challenges of the Census.”