<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>To receive federal homeless funds, communities are required to produce statistically reliable, unduplicated counts or estimates of homeless persons in sheltered and unsheltered locations during a one-night period (within the last ten days of January) called a point-in-time (PIT) count. In Los Angeles, a general population telephone survey was implemented to estimate the number of unsheltered homeless adults who are hidden from view during the PIT count. Two estimation approaches were investigated: i) the number of homeless persons identified as living on private property, which employed a conventional household weight for the estimated total (Horvitz-Thompson approach); and ii) the number of homeless persons identified as living on a neighbor’s property, which employed an additional adjustment derived from the size of the neighborhood network to estimate the total (multiplicity-based approach). This article compares the results of these two methods and discusses the implications therein.</p></abstract>

To receive federal homeless funds, communities are required to produce statistically reliable, unduplicated counts or estimates of homeless persons in sheltered and unsheltered locations during a one-night period (within the last ten days of January) called a point-in-time (PIT) count. In Los Angeles, a general population telephone survey was implemented to estimate the number of unsheltered homeless adults who are hidden from view during the PIT count. Two estimation approaches were investigated: i) the number of homeless persons identified as living on private property, which employed a conventional household weight for the estimated total (Horvitz-Thompson approach); and ii) the number of homeless persons identified as living on a neighbor’s property, which employed an additional adjustment derived from the size of the neighborhood network to estimate the total (multiplicity-based approach). This article compares the results of these two methods and discusses the implications therein.

Enumerating the Hidden Homeless: Strategies to Estimate the Homeless Gone Missing From a Point-in-Time Count

University of North Carolina, Carolina Survey Research Laboratory, 730 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Bolin Creek Center, Chapel Hill, NC, U.S.A.

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, 811 Wilshare Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90017, U.S.A

Journal of Official Statistics

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

To receive federal homeless funds, communities are required to produce statistically reliable, unduplicated counts or estimates of homeless persons in...

Enumerating the Hidden Homeless: Strategies to Estimate the Homeless Gone Missing From a Point-in-Time Count

Published Online: May 08, 2014

Page range: 215 - 229

Received: Feb 01, 2013

Accepted: Nov 01, 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jos-2014-0014

Keywords
Homeless count, hidden homeless, unsheltered homeless population, Horvitz-Thompson estimator, multiplicity-based estimator

© by Robert P. Agans

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Enumerating the Hidden Homeless: Strategies to Estimate the Homeless Gone Missing From a Point-in-Time Count

Published Online: May 08, 2014

Page range: 215 - 229

Received: Feb 01, 2013

Accepted: Nov 01, 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jos-2014-0014

KeywordsHomeless count, hidden homeless, unsheltered homeless population, Horvitz-Thompson estimator, multiplicity-based estimator

© by Robert P. Agans

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords
Homeless count, hidden homeless, unsheltered homeless population, Horvitz-Thompson estimator, multiplicity-based estimator