
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003091779
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUSTICE HOUSE TO DEFY CENSUS OF HOMELESS

Although he doesn't expect resistance to a planned national count of the homeless "to impact the numbers one way or another," David Hayden said Thursday that the doors of his Justice House ministry in Roanoke will be closed to census workers.

Hayden said he and the formerly homeless residents of the Justice House apartments would not cooperate with the count on the night of March 20-21 because they believe "a gross undercount" is inevitable.

Homeless people must be invisible to protect themselves against social-service agencies that might take their children or force unwanted programs on them, he said.

It will be impossible to find everyone, he contends, and the political consequence of a low count will be a reduced government emphasis on providing low-cost housing.

Hayden charged that the Reagan and Bush administrations have published fraudulently low estimates of the numbers of homeless and cannot be trusted. "If we felt they were truthful, we would be fully cooperative."

He will not undertake a campaign to conceal homeless people from census takers, Hayden said, but the doors of Justice House will be open to the homeless on the night of the count.

While burning an information letter from the Census Bureau in a symbolic gesture of defiance, Hayden said there is "mounting national opposition" to the count. Notable non-cooperation will "attack the credibility of the study" and perhaps "force government to get on with the business of providing affordable housing."

Hayden conceded that some national housing advocacy groups are cooperating with the count, but said it was often "grudging."

In Roanoke, Joy Sylvester-Johnson of the City Rescue Mission said her agency intends to cooperate, particularly in light of the discrepancies in other national counts.

The federal government has been criticized for not doing enough, she said, but "now is behaving responsibly . . . and we think we should do everything we can to cooperate to get an accurate count."

Wendy Moore, executive director of the RAM House day shelter for the homeless in Roanoke, said she was encouraging census officials to come by that facility, where they might be able to count some people who could be missed in the overnight count.

All the homeless "deserve to be counted," Moore said, to make sure government understands the need to provide help.

Hayden defended resistance, saying "there are enough indicators already" of the extent of homelessness to proceed with the task of providing more housing. Numbers are available from advocates such as himself, he said.

Nationally, estimates of the numbers of homeless people range from about 300,000 to more than 3 million.

Hayden, who was defrocked by the Mennonite Church last fall, is helping coordinate a winter-long campaign in Washington to add $25 billion a year to the federal housing budget. He continues to lead the Justice House ministry to the poor and homeless in Roanoke.

by CNB