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Although the weather was wet and cold on Wednesday, the large auditorium at the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center was bustling with activity as several hundred of Hudson County’s homeless and needy accepted the invitation of a diverse group of service providers to come and be counted at an event called Project Homeless Connect.

Sponsored by a coalition known as the Hudson County Alliance to End Homelessness, the event went hand-in-hand with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s annual Point-in-Time Count. In order to qualify for certain federal funds, county service providers are required to carry out an annual survey of homeless residents. The survey collects data about total numbers of homeless, as well as about their use of available services and the circumstances that precipitated their homelessness.

Project Homeless Connect (PHC) helps the surveyors reach the homeless population by attracting them to a central location to be counted. The event also provides the homeless with a valuable opportunity to learn about the social services that are available to them, as well as to take advantage of giveaways of sorely needed clothing, food, and medical care. Representatives from nearly 30 nonprofit and government organizations were on hand to greet the attendees and answer their questions. Many groups handed out winter coats, shoes, and other clothing; some provided quick blood-pressure and cholesterol tests, HIV/AIDS tests, and dental exams; all distributed literature and educated people about their organizations.

However, many who had been present at PHC last year noted that the turnout seemed to be a bit lower this time around, a factor some attributed to the weather, and some to the new location. This was the first year the event was held in the Bergen Hill neighborhood; last year, it was held at Downtown’s Grace Church Van Vorst. An attendee who did not wish to give her name commented that she’d had more than a little difficulty getting to the Bethune Center from Curries Woods. But Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson was pleased with the change of venue, noting that she’d “asked them to move [the event] further down here.” Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise concurred, remarking that the space was well-suited to the event.

Volunteers said that the event attracted people with homes in addition to the homeless, including some who had recently lost their jobs. Jersey City resident Lovette Roach, who is not homeless, was thankful for the items she was able to take home, saying that her social security entitlements and food stamps no longer cut it as the cost of living rises. Since most of the organizations represented at PHC provide services to poor people with homes as well as to the homeless, the information they were sharing was useful for many. Louis Farmer, Director of Outreach for Hudson County Pride, commented that his organization was present to serve “any and all who are receptive to HIV and AIDS education and testing.”

Richardson and DeGise were not the only elected officials who made appearances — Hudson County Freeholders Jeffrey Dublin and Eliu Rivera worked the room together, and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy arrived in his usual good spirits a bit later on. Healy expressed thanks to the event’s organizers, saying that groups and events like this help the local government do its job by “making our city and county a better place to live for everyone.” Bishop Thomas Donato of the Archdiocese of Newark, a co-chair of the Hudson County Ten-Year Plan to end homelessness, was also present.

Project Homeless Connect was a success: it provided a central location to reach the homeless population and educated the public about available services. However, as Jacob de Lemos, Program Director for Housing Assistance at the Hudson County Division of Housing and Community Development, pointed out, the event was secondary to the overarching goal of the day, which was to obtain an accurate census of the county’s homeless population. The surveyors reached many of their constituents during the day at PHC, collecting over 300 surveys, but five teams of committed individuals braved the evening chill to scour streets, alleys and out-of-the-way places for homeless citizens. Dividing the county up into manageable portions, each team cruised areas known to be hospitable to or commonly occupied by homeless people. This “unsheltered count” coincided with survey efforts in the county’s shelters. All of the completed surveys will be tabulated by the national Corporation for Supportive Housing, and results are expected to be available within a few months. The graph below shows the results of recent years’ surveys.

Source: Hudson County Division of Housing and Community Development. According to the agency, the dramatic decrease in the number of chronically homeless from 2007 to 2008 is due to a change in the questions on the survey tool. This year’s survey uses the same questions as 2008′s.

Survey teams were assigned to Bayonne, Hoboken, Jersey City, and northern Hudson County. Other than a drive by the Harrison PATH station, western portions of the county were not surveyed — de Lemos noted that teams in those areas had not encountered homeless in years past. Although it is known that some people live in certain desolate areas of the western county, such as Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus, it is perhaps less likely that they would be staying outdoors during the arduous winter months. Concerns have been raised in the past about HUD’s decision to hold the nationwide count in the dead of January, but the policy has not changed.

De Lemos, along with fellow Division of Housing and Community Development employee Kristin Green and Hudson County Division of Health and Human Services staffer Susanne Byrne, were part of Team 4, which was responsible for canvassing Journal Square and Downtown. When the team encountered a person who appeared to be homeless, one or two surveyors approached the individual and asked him or her to answer the survey’s questions. The encounter was also an opportunity for the surveyors to distribute snacks and bottled water, as well as to encourage people sleeping outside to go to one of the county’s shelters for the night. More than once, de Lemos spoke on the phone with one of his contacts at area shelters or sent an individual to a shelter saying, “Tell ‘em Jacob sent you.”

Despite the best efforts of groups like the Hudson County Alliance to End Homelessness, homelessness continues to be a significant problem for Hudson County. There is no question that a wide array of services is available to the area’s poor and homeless, but accessing these services is not always easy. For example, many wonder why it is necessary to produce photo identification in order to stay at the county’s shelters — especially since the supporting documents required to obtain most forms of ID, such as a birth certificate and social security card, are always difficult and often impossible for the homeless to lay hands on. While the Point-in-Time Count and Project Homeless Connect are not able to cure all the ills of extreme poverty, the events of Wednesday demonstrated that the will to do so exists.