Culture
The Particular Challenge of Helping Homeless LGBTQ Youth
These kids are hard to find, and often face even greater struggles than their straight peers.
Every year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities to count the people living on their streets. The date of the so-called "Point in Time" count, as it's called, varies from place to place, but usually happens at the end of January. The numbers determine funding levels for federal assistance programs. They also help officials decide what resources they need to allocate to the homeless.
On the evening of the count, volunteers and staff of social service agencies and nonprofits fan out across the nighttime landscape, trying to find the homeless. It's a notoriously difficult task, and not everyone is counted.