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Kim Hopper, PhD, Marybeth Shinn, PhD, Eugene Laska, PhD, Morris Meisner, PhD and Joseph Wanderling, MA

Kim Hopper is with the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, and the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City. Marybeth Shinn is with the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, and the Wagner School of Public Service, New York University, New York City. Eugene Laska and Morris Meisner are with the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, and the Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical School, New York City. Joseph Wanderling is with the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Kim Hopper, PhD, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, 140 Old Orangeburg Rd, Orangeburg, NY 10962 (e-mail: hopper{at}nki.rfmh.org).

ABSTRACT

Objectives. We sought to increase the accuracy of New York City’s estimates of its unsheltered homeless population.

Methods. We employed 2 approaches to increasing count accuracy: a plant-capture strategy in which embedded decoys (or "plants") were used to estimate the proportion of visible homeless people missed by enumerators and a postcount survey of service users designed to estimate the proportion of unsheltered homeless people who were not visible.

Results. Plants at 17 sites (29%) reported being missed in the count, because counters either did not visit those sites or did not interview the plants. Of 293 homeless service users who were not in shelters, 31% to 41% were in locations deemed not visible to counters.

Conclusions. Both plant-capture estimation and postcount surveys are feasible approaches that can increase the accuracy of estimates of unsheltered homeless populations.