Annual Effort to Count New York City's Homeless Roughing it on the Street

BoroPark24 Staff

In an annual effort to count New York City's homeless, volunteers worked through the night on Tuesday into early Wednesday morning in order to count those sleeping on New York City streets and on subways.

The Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) began in 2005 and provides the federal government with estimates of New York City's street homeless population.

HOPE critics wonder why the annual count takes place during the winter when the fewest number of people, even the homeless, are found outdoors. Yet the count continues at the same time, year after year.  

The results of this week's count should be released in the spring or early summer.

Last year 3,439 people were counted on New York City streets and on subways.

The count isn't entirely accurate given that those riding the trains miss being included as well as those in shelters or taking shelter in varying indoor locations like emergency rooms, 24-hour fast food restaurants, and bank vestibules.

It is well known that New Yorkers living on the streets are a small fraction of the City's homeless population. According to Gothamist, the City set a record in October for those living in City shelters, and that number has only continued to rise every month since. The City's daily shelter census reports that 69,384 individuals could be found in city shelters and hotels on one day alone this week.

photo credit: Flickr