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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Iowa Homeless Count Gets Underway Tonight

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017   

DES MOINES, Iowa – Volunteers in communities across Iowa will undertake the daunting task Wednesday of counting the number of people they can find without permanent homes. The annual Point-in-Time Count is required for communities that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

According to Julie Eberbach, associate director of the Institute for Community Alliances in Des Moines, it is the most comprehensive tally of both unsheltered and sheltered homeless individuals.

"This includes all the agencies, including domestic violence service providers, who wouldn't ordinarily report in the same manner," she said. "It includes people that are living out on the street, to the degree that folks are able to be found and counted, and surveyed. It's the most aggressive effort that we make."

Just over 3,000 homeless people were counted during last year's point-in-time tally in Iowa. It is a slight drop from 2015 numbers, but a 12-percent increase since 2007.

Eberbach said community groups organizing the counts can always use a helping hand.

"You can be involved by assisting with the count if there's something being organized in your area," she added. "You can contribute hand warmers or clean socks, protein bars or bottles of water, things like that that can be provided to folks that are living out during the period in which they're being surveyed and interviewed."

HUD uses the data to monitor trends over time, and the numbers are submitted to Congress for an annual report on homelessness.

Eberbach said local agencies also use the information to monitor the effectiveness of assistance programs for people who are homeless.


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