About 10 NYU students searched for homeless people this past Monday night, but didn’t find any.
The students, led by Hillel Social Action Chair Abbe Pick, took part in the NYC Department of Homeless Services’ 5th annual HOPE: Homeless Outreach Population Estimate. They met with 50 other volunteers at P.S. 41 for an orientation, then hit the streets to survey the Washington Square neighborhood.
Explaining the Jewish approach that the students took to the survey, Pick told CampusJ in an e-mail that, “Although being Jewish didn’t play a major role in the actual homeless survey, it was nice to participate in an event with a small group of Hillel students (within my group), who shared in a common interest and cause.”
Pick went on to explain how the group went about conducting the survey. “Our task was to ask anyone who we passed if they would like to answer a few questions about their housing situation in New York,” she said, noting “It was interesting because we were told to ask everyone we passed, not just people who appeared homeless because people from the Dept. of Homeless Services told us that there is no such thing as a homeless looking person, etc.”
But by the time their survey was complete, they’d yet to find any of the subjects they were supposed to interview. “We only met non-homeless people, fortunately, which means that the homeless people usually out were hopefully in shelters, especially because the city was on ‘winter alert’ due to the cold temperatures, Pick said, adding “We surveyed about 32 people, all of whom had a home to go to for the night.”