New Haven Independent

The volunteers were among 100 people who fanned out across New Haven for an annual head count of the city’s homeless population.

Wenesday was the national Point in Time Homeless Count. During last year’s count, 750 individuals — sheltered and unsheltered — were identified as homeless in New Haven on a single night. During the course of 2008 3,750 people at some point were homeless, according to Alison Cunningham, executive director of Columbus House, which provides shelter and programs for this population. Columbus House is one of the participating agencies in the New Haven Continuum of Care, which conducts the annual survey. The numbers are used to determine levels of federal funding for the homeless. (Click here to read a story about last year’s count.)

Cunningham (pictured), said the National Alliance to End Homelessness estimated there was a decrease in homelessness nationally between 2006 and 2007. But she said, New Haven last year saw a 5 percent spike in people staying in shelters and a 13 percent increase in homeless families.

“Our fear is that in the next year or two, because of the economy, those numbers are going to continue to go up, which is very disheartening,” she said.

Volunteers grabbed dinner at the Whitney Avenue Presbyterian Church. There they got marching orders on how to ask people on the street if they are homeless, then conduct a survey of those willing to respond. They conducted the survey only if the person indicated he or she had not already been surveyed by someone else wearing a big yellow button.

The more than 30 teams got maps outlining where they were to go; there was no overlap. They were instructed not to go into the woods or into abandoned buildings, but a two-person team that works on a daily basis with the homeless knew where to look and walked into an area sandwiched between I-91 and I-95.

There Debbie Fisk and Joe Parente (pictured) found a couple of shelters obviously built by homeless individuals, but nobody was in them.

With constant noise from the highways, it seemed less than an ideal spot, but Parente explained the choice of location.

“It’s secluded, as you see. You wouldn’t think this area was here. The other thing is there are materials here from nearby construction sites.”

The sturdiest shelter was made from chicken wire with a plywood roof and wrapped in plastic sheeting. Inside was a mattress covered with a sleeping bag, with a hat and pair of gloves lying on top (pictured at top of story) and a cooler in one corner. Outside was a shovel on one side and a bin full of split logs on the other. A tiny pail, holding a small candle, hung from the top of the shelter.

Parente, who works for Easter Seals, said he and Fisk know a homeless man who’s lived outdoors in the area for ten years. “While there may be disabilities and barriers on the one end,” he said, “there’s also a sense of hardiness and creativity to be clever enough to survive.”

The team also stopped in at Union Station, where they found one man — a seasonal construction worker — who is currently homeless. The security guard at the railroad station, who declined to be photographed or to give his name, said “lots” of homeless people spend time in the station, which is open all day and night except from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. He said he shoos out those who aggressively panhandle, but if they keep to themselves he lets them stay in where it’s warm and dry.

Russell Jones (pictured), a formerly homeless man, said he was helping out with the count because he wanted to give something back. “This is a way of people showing love — especially today in the rain - and that people really care.”

Cunningham said this year’s figures won’t be available for a couple of months.