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Sunday, October 22, 2000

Early start on homeless census day
Volunteers scour the city for first-ever head count
By Chris Neely
Caller-Times

CORRECTION:
A headline in this story incorrectly reported the number of homeless counts conducted in Corpus Christi. There were two surveys last year.

Wade awoke to the sound of footsteps early Saturday, just after sun-up.
   He lifted his head from his narrow, striped mattress in the woods near Glen Arbor Park, squinting against the sun as he watched the pair approach.
   "If you don't mind me popping a beer, I'll answer anything you want," he said, reaching inside a plastic grocery bag for a warm can of Busch.
   Wade was one of the people interviewed by Homeless Issues Partnership volunteers Saturday as part of what organizers say will become an annual area homeless survey.
   Eileen Callejas, vice chair for the partnership, said the information will be used by several outreach programs in the area to help them give the homeless the help they say they need. The data also are used when applying for state and federal grants, many of which come from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
   The final count from Saturday's survey will be available next week, Callejas said.
   She estimates there are between 2,000 and 3,000 homeless in the area, although two surveys last year turned up only a couple of hundred.
   "We found a lot of the people weren't in their campsites when we did the survey, so we just missed those people," she said.
   Callejas said one of HUD's requirements is that the survey be conducted in relatively short order to avoid counting anyone twice. That makes the count all the more difficult, she said.
   "First of all, it's hard to find people who are staying out," Callejas said. "They're trying to stay hidden so that they don't have the police after them or anybody bothering them. Second of all, it's hard to have enough people to go out and count everybody within a short period of time."
   About 75 volunteers met at the Salvation Army well before sunrise to break into groups of four or five and fan out across the city looking for spots where the homeless are likely to camp for the night.
   For Callejas' crew, that meant pre-dawn sweeps of thickets and dense stands of saplings in city parks and along the outskirts of developed areas.
   They broke into pairs, calling out, "Good morning!" and waving their flashlights before them as they ducked under branches and stepped through tall, wet grass over uneven terrain.
   "We usually try to make noise when we're going into an area so that we don't startle people," Callejas said. "We don't really want to surprise them and have them be alarmed."
   Wade, 31, wasn't alarmed because he knew the volunteers were coming. Callejas and coworker Doyle Harris met him Friday while they scouted likely homeless camps.
   Harris asked Wade a series of questions about what led to his homelessness and what kinds of services he would find most beneficial in getting off the streets.
   Between sips of his beer, Wade said he has been homeless, off and on, for seven years. His wife left him a while back and he's not sure whether they are divorced. His three daughters, aged 14, 12 and 10, have been adopted by other families. "That wasn't my fault," he said. "That was their mother's."
   Wade said he panhandles, and pulled a wad of one-dollar bills the size of his fist from his pocket. "I ain't broke," he said. "People on the street help me out. But I have to work for it. Believe it or not, it's work."
   Wade also said he is an alcoholic.
   After the questions, volunteer Armando del Toro gave him a care package with some toiletries. Wade thanked him, said goodbye and sat back down on the stained mattress.
   "I appreciate what you guys are doing," he called after them. "You guys be careful out there."



Staff writer Chris Neely can be reached at 886-3794 or by e-mail at neelyc@caller.com

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