On paper, the number of people who slept on sidewalks, in woods and in encampments in January in Central Florida is about the same as last year. But advocates say the real number is likely much higher, due to a new state law interfering with counting efforts.
The annual, federally required point-in-time count — conducted by hundreds of volunteers — has long been seen as an undercount, due to the difficulties of finding people in just three days every January. This year, advocates contend their task was even harder, with local governments aggressively clearing encampments, and some unsheltered people moving deeper into wooded areas to evade detection and potential arrest.
“In the past, we’ve known a lot of places where people will be,” said Martha Are, the CEO of the Homeless Services Network. “This year we sent volunteers to those places and people just weren’t there. They’d been moved along. Once folks have been moved along, it becomes their intent to find a place no one will find them to move them along again.”…