Everybody counts: Survey aims to determine size of St. John's homeless population

A new survey that aims to gauge the size of the homeless population in St. John's has a simple message: everybody counts.

Former Tory MHA Shawn Skinner, chairman of End Homelessness St. John's, said the survey is essential to determining if the services currently provided are effective and reaching everyone they need to.

"We are going to count the number of homeless people, gather some information from them, and part of that information-gathering is the kind of things they'd like to see us doing," he said.

"So we need to get out there, in the community, on the streets where people are, and start to establish a baseline of data."

Survey designed to be respectful

The count will be done every second year to measure progress in reducing homelessness, Skinner told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

Jesse Donaldson, of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, visiting from Ontario to observe and help with the count, said it's designed to not be intrusive to the people involved.

"The information is a general picture of what people have experienced," she said, adding that in similar surveys done elsewhere in Canada, people are usually co-operative.

"I think communities, including St. John's, have done a really good job of training volunteers, and it's about being respectful and partnering with people to deliver the survey."

More than 100 volunteers showed uo Wednesday night in to help with the surveys.

"It warms my heart that people in St. John's are mobilizing to take this effort seriously," said Bruce Pearce, community development worker for End Homelessness St. John's.

"The fact that this community cares enough to plan for several months a survey that is not too intrusive, that is going to be respectful, engaging people to tell their stories. That we've got so many volunteers that are helping us really says something about how neighbours care about their neighbours."

Pearce said it's taking a deeper look at youth homelessness.

"30 percent of our shelter users are 16 to 24 in St. John's," he said.

"That's a narrow demographic when you think that almost a third of your homeless population is under 24. A further 10 percent is under 15. So literally 40 percent plus of people in our community who have experienced homelessness have barely started their lives."

Pearce said it will take a few weeks to go through and then release the findings of the survey.