Re: “Why the homeless count continues, even with accuracy in doubt” [Feb. 7, A1]:
The article on the Level-in-Time depend is provocative. King County is only one of all of the Washington state counties required to do that, and it’s equally pointless all over the place.
Though I commend the folks doing it (their intentions are good), this huge effort yr after yr solely produces woefully inaccurate statistics. Homeless people are sometimes suspicious of such inquiries. Even when a charity (comparable to one which I run) presents important help, they could give false names, false places, false cellphone numbers. Many are afraid of being displaced from their encampments; some are hiding from regulation enforcement, some from households, some from abusers; and a few undergo from paranoia. For the depend, it’s extremely unlikely that many will come out to be counted. There are different methods to succeed in them.
Funds spent on the Level-in-Time depend must be used as an alternative for packages that really profit the folks in query.
Laurie Riley, Port Townsend
