Survey finds 18 homeless

By Catharin Shepard

Staff writer

A bedroll in a park, a middle-aged couple with nowhere to go and a man living in a tiny unheated building were a few of the situations volunteers and law enforcement officers reported seeing last week while counting the county’s homeless.
“We did encounter some real homeless situations,” the Rev. Elle Graham said. Graham was one of several volunteers who drove around the county seeking out people living unsheltered or in temporary shelter as part of a statewide effort to get a snapshot of homelessness.
A preliminary total located 18 people who said they were homeless, Hoke County Coalition Against Homelessness Director Martha Beatty said. Coalition volunteers searched the county to find people who are homeless and include them on the survey. Law enforcement officers with the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office and Raeford Police Department also handed out the surveys.

The survey asked detailed questions about how the person became homeless. The survey did not ask for names to protect the individuals’ privacy. The volunteers also signed an agreement not to disclose specific information that could identify the people who took the survey.

Coalition volunteer Pat Wilson surveyed nine people who reported being homeless. Unemployment was the top reason given for why those individuals were unsheltered.
“And not one of them chose to be homeless,” Wilson added.
Domestic violence and substance abuse were also cited as problems related to Hoke County homelessness, according to the surveys.
The volunteers and law enforcement officers conducted the surveys during one 24-hour period from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday last week to gauge homelessness in the community to better understand what services are needed in Hoke County. Other counties across the state, including Cumberland and Wake, conducted similar surveys the same day.
The group planned to continue collecting the completed surveys through Feb. 2.
The Hoke County Coalition Against Homelessness is also sponsoring free lunches at the Hoke County Public Library Friday, Feb. 10 and Feb. 17 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Anyone is welcome to participate and the homeless are particularly encouraged to come. For more information, contact Betty Perkins at 875-8225 or Martha Beatty at 261-5894.