HOPE 2008

So, the previously mentioned HOPE count took place this Monday night. The city was divided into districts and volunteers were assigned to certain tracts within each district to survey. Supposedly, the NYC count is one of the most statistically sound counts in the country, but I don't know all the details about what makes it such, although I know it does have to do with how the tracts are selected to be surveyed, and the presence of decoys to serve as controls. As a DHS employee, I got to our base school at around 9:00 to set up for the volunteers. When the 30-some volunteers arrived at 11:00, we gave them a brief training on the rules. The basic gist of the evening is to give the survey to everyone you see on the street who is not actively working.

The survey asks 1. Is there someplace you call home that you are returning to tonight? 2. What type of dwelling is that place (apt/house/room/public space/abandoned building/etc) 3. Has anyone else asked you these questions tonight? You are supposed to ask everyone, because you can't really tell what's what on looks alone (and to make sure you find the decoys!). If you do find people who are homeless, you offer them a ride to the shelter intake facility (there were vans on call for this purpose). If they did not want to go, and didn't seem in danger, you just thanked them and handed them an outreach card with contact info if they should change their mind.

I went out in Bushwick, Brooklyn with fellow Fellow Ryan, our team leader Michelle and a police escort. I did most of the talking, which involved stopping those in the street, introducing myself and doing the survey. Now keep in mind, these questions are being asked to people between midnight and 2:00am. DHS does its best to publicize, but no one we talked to that night had any idea what we were doing. Only one guy refused to answer though, and we talked to around 25 people. We got some really confused looks, though, especially when we asked if anyone else had already asked them these questions.

Having a police officer with us made for an interesting dynamic. The officers were supposed to be out in pairs, and be trailing us a bit, but ours stayed close to us, which I think made a lot of the participants nervous. I don't blame them! We found one homeless guy, who told us he was a vet and had been living in a very abandoned building by the Long Island RR track for several years. He wanted to get back on his feet but didn't want to go into the shelter system. We didn't find any decoys, which wasn't unusual, but somehow we still felt like we'd missed something.

By the time we finished, I was frozen to the bone, and the night wasn't even that cold, I was only out for three hours and I was moving the whole time. I could never hack it as homeless in NYC in the winter. I don't know how people do it. What I enjoyed most was seeing the city from a completely different angle - I'm never out that late in that kind of neighborhood specifically looking for that kind of population. It was very, very interesting. Next year, I think I'd like to participate as a decoy.

Anyway, that's that. The rest of the week was eventful as well, as I attended at debate at the 92 Street Y about the existence of God, ate at a french bakery and listened to a folk singer/songwriter on the LES. That, my friends, is why I continue to love New York, although I do have to remind myself sometimes on days like today when it's cold, wet and windy.

Here's to a great weekend,