Iowa counts its homeless

Communities across Iowa are trying to get an exact count of the number of homeless people living in their cities.

It’s easy to get a good estimate by just counting the people in shelters. But Joe Zito, a homeless advocate with the Abbe Center for Mental Health in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said officials have to get an exact number. That means counting the people who sleep outside, too, and that’s more difficult.

“Most people who are sleeping outside don’t want anyone to know,” he said.

Each year, counties get federal money to help people who are homeless. But to get that money, workers have to physically count each person who doesn’t have a home.

“We find six to 10 a night that we lay eyes on,” Zito said. “Then we usually hear about two to three more, but we can’t verify those.”

The count in Linn County took place earlier this week. Iowa’s county should be done in about a week. Zito said he and his crew had about 20 sites they wanted to check just in Cedar Rapids.

An old standby is the Fourth Avenue Parkade.

“Last year there was a homeless gentleman in his 70s ...” living in a stairwell there, Zito said. On Tuesday night, the stairwell was empty.

“Generally, studies have shown if someone sleeps outside for any length of time, they have more severe problems, so we have to go find where they are at and build relationships with them,” Zito said.

But some of the camps are so well hidden, they simply go unnoticed. The advocates said they’ve seen it.

“Human beings are smart animals, and they find a way to survive, and they’re excellent at what they do,” said Neal Currell of Linn Community Care.

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