Who Are The Homeless? Annual Survey to Find Out

Rocky Mountain News

Even on these sub-zero mornings, Sharon finds homeless men sleeping on the frozen sidewalk when she opens the doors a 5 a.m. at a Lakewood day-labor center.

"Some of them are just trembling," said Sharon, a staffer at Labor Finders, who declined to give her last name because she's not authorized to speak to reporters.

"During the last big snow storm, there was an older man and the guys had to help him come in, because he was so stiff from the cold," she said.

Today, a couple dozen men, many living on the streets during these bone-chilling nights, were huddling inside the storefront, sipping coffee to warm up.

They were also filling out the four-page form for the eighth Metro Denver Homeless Point-in-Time Survey.

About 175 volunteers are fanning out across the seven-county region today to interview homeless individuals and families sleeping in shelters and cheap motels, under bridges and in Dumpsters.

The survey is required to obtain nearly $15 million in federal emergency housing funding. It also helps officials learn who comprises the current homeless population, why people lost their homes and how cities can best serve their needs.