Volunteers hit the street to count Cedar Rapids' homeless

CEDAR RAPIDS — With flashlights in hand, Dusty Noble and Randy Smith search beneath an Interstate 380 overpass not far from the Best Western Cooper's Mill Hotel on Cedar Rapids' northwest side.

It's 1:45 a.m.

'Do you see anything?' Noble shouts to Smith, who is standing about 50 feet in front of him.

'No. Nothing,' Smith responds.

'Last week there were mattresses under there,' Noble says. 'That's how fast they move.'

Noble and Smith were looking for the city's homeless — to offer them food and water, toothpaste and soap, but also to collect data.

The two men were among a dozen volunteers who — in the early hours of Thursday morning — searched the city's streets, parks, bridges and trails for the homeless. It was part of a biannual Point-in-Time count, done every January and July, that looks at the number of individuals in local emergency shelters, transitional housing facilities, on waiting lists for shelters and living on the street.

The volunteers represented local agencies like Willis Dady Emergency Shelter, the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program — or HACAP, the Abbe Center and Veterans Affairs. They split into four groups to comb the city's 'hot spots' — locations scouted out in advance and known to be areas where the homeless sleep.

'We've increased the number of people on the ground as well as the pre-scout trips to find the hot spots,' said Phoebe Trepp, executive director at Willis Dady, 1247 Fourth Ave. SE. 'We've been going out the past six weeks' to find locations.

Numbers and demographics collected in January are sent to the state and then onto the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The July count is not required, Trepp said, but Linn County agencies do it to get a better snapshot. Final numbers are to be tallied by early next week.

Agencies also distribute a family needs survey in order to help them better identify barriers. The survey asks about health problems, disabilities, substance abuse and incarceration, as well as household income, education levels and reasons for homelessness.

According to data collected by the agencies, the number of homeless individuals in Linn County has fluctuated slightly over the past several years, dipping down to 347 in January 2012, hitting a peak of 490 in July 2014 and falling to 400 this past January.

That count showed about 205 people were staying in emergency shelters; 227 were in transitional housing and 18 were found living on the street.

'We do get individuals who have not sought services before or maybe haven't connected for many years,' Trepp said.

The 12 people searching for the homeless early Thursday morning took cars and bikes, spanning Cedar Rapids to look in parking lots and 24-hour laundromats, under the interstate, by the river and in downtown alleyways.

Since city officials evicted a group from a homeless camp by the river last fall, it's been a little harder to find them, Noble said — they move more frequently and are less likely to sleep in groups. The volunteers also suspect that the recent Pokémon Go phenomenon, which is bringing individuals to Greene Square late at night in search of Pokémon, is keeping the homeless away from downtown — there's more foot traffic and noise.

At the end of about a four-hour search, Noble and Smith reported finding three of the city's homeless; one group found eight while another found none.

The duo found one woman sleeping by herself, which is pretty atypical, Smith explained. Most women sleep around other women for safety reasons or are with their husbands or partners. They found an Air Force veteran under a bridge, and made sure he was aware of local VA services before continuing on their way.

'Some guys like the help and some say they're fine and don't want anything,' Smith said. 'We've got to respect them, it's their life.'

There were also a couple of people Noble and Smith found sitting on benches outside of convenience stores or laundromats — it was highly likely they were homeless, Noble said, because of the late hour and the fact they didn't have vehicles. But they couldn't be included in the count since they rebuffed food and said they didn't know of anyone sleeping outside.

'But you can never assume their homeless,' Noble said. 'Yes, it's odd to me that someone is sitting outside at 12:15 in the morning with no laundry. But you can't assume.'

At the end of the night, the group gathered by the Tree of Five Seasons for a quick debriefing. It was a long night — nearly 4 a.m. But the data is necessary.

'It's important to the benchmark,' Noble said. 'It gives us an idea on how well our social services are doing, what's working and where the gaps are.'