Homeless count set in 5 New Brunswick areas

Five areas of New Brunswickare taking part in an initiative this month to count how many homeless people are in each community.

• Homeless census willl 'shed some light' on problems
• Fredericton hopes to end chronic homelessness in 5 years

Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton and Bathurstand the southern New Brunswick regionare all among the 30 Canadian participants in the Point in Time Count.

Faith McFarland, the co-ordinatorfor the Community Action Group for Homelessness in Fredericton, saidcounting those without proper housing is a start to fixing the problem.

"Part of this plan is that we are really looking at adopting a very strategic approach, in terms of how we are going to respond tohomelessnesshere in Fredericton," said McFarland.

"And that means we are going to have an approach that looks at chronic and episodichomelessnesshere in the community."

The co-ordinated effort isfunded by the federal government and is intended to provide a snapshot of homelessness across Canada.

This week, 150 volunteers in New Brunswick are starting training and more recruits are being sought.

"Our volunteers are going to approach everyone that they encounter," said Emily Leaman, the co-ordinator for the count in Fredericton.

"So we're asking them not to make any judgments about somebody's housing status based on just what someone looks like so just to approach everyone that they encounter."

Results from the count will be made public once the data has been analyzed.

By establishing the minimum number of homeless people over a 24-hour period, the New Brunswick communities will be able to establish a benchmark to measure anyprogress toward homelessness in the coming years.