Volunteers Still Needed For San Francisco's Homeless Count
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - San Francisco will conduct its annual Homeless Count this week.
Even though it's just days away, San Francisco is still looking for volunteers to help tabulate the census of the homeless this Thursday evening.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
Volunteers will fan out all over the city - to shelters, hospitals, halfway houses, detox centers, alleys, parks, bridges and bushes.
"To really get better data, better information that will allow us to make smarter decisions about how we allocate our resources to end homelessness in San Francisco," explained Dariush Kayhan, San Francisco's homeless policy director.
The federal government requires these types of homeless counts in order for a city to qualify for millions of dollars in funding assistance.
Last year's count uncovered about 6,500 homeless in San Francisco.
"There are very clear protocols from the federal government as to how we're supposed to count," Kayhan outlined. "We don't engage people, we observe and based on evidence of people being homeless we make sure we mark them as homeless, and we also mark where they are in the city."
150 volunteers were still needed as of early Monday afternoon.
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