Despite the appearance of more vagrants and beggars on downtown streets and major street corners, officials expect the total number of homeless people to be down following the annual 'Point in Time' homeless count, which wrapped up early today, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"A lot of people see the homeless people downtown, and these are the more 'chronically homeless'," said Navarra Williams, the President of San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries.
He says what people don't see is the homeless families, as well as homeless individuals who live in shelters, 'homeless emcampments,' as well as in temporary shelters established by groups like SAMM.
"It could be a place where two people are huddled up," Williams said. "Or there could be fifteen or more people huddled up, in tents or under blankets."
The PIT Count takes place every year in January, because the in the colder months the homeless population is more likely to be found in one place where they can more easily be found and counted.
Hundreds of volunteers, each group with a police officer escort, poked aorund under bridges, in shelters and other places where the homeless live, between 6PM and midnight.
The PIT Count determines who the homeless are, what their needs are, and what services should be extended to them. Williams says the number of homeless counted in San Antonio last year was 2700, and that number is expected to be down this year due to more services to get people out of homelessness, and a strong economy providing more jobs.
And, experts agree that most of the cardboard sign carrying people who accost motorists at street corners are not homeless at all, and many are actually professional panhandlers, making big money guilting and shaking down drivers.
Williams says the picture of the actual homeless population is far more complicated, and he bristles at the notion that homeless people are 'lazy bums' who are 'looking for a handout.'
He says many homeless are suffering from physical or mental problems, many are families, and you would be surprised at the number of highly successful men and women in San Antonio who have homelessness in their past.
"We've had people who have finished their law degrees within our program," he said. "We have had people who have become all sorts of different professionals."
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