ENUMERATING HOMELESS PEOPLE - ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES

Decisions about how inclusive one should be in at tempting to sample a nd/or enumerate homeless populations are best guided by information re garding what is sacrificed when different sampling choices are made. T his article draws upon data from the Course of Homelessness Study to e xplore how three progressively less inclusive sampling frames affect u nderstandings of the size and characteristics of homeless populations in two Los Angeles sites. Findings suggest that less inclusive samplin g frames substantially affect population estimates, but do not consist ently produce biased estimates of population characteristics. Whether, and the extent to which, such bias is introduced varies by site, by g ender; and by the population characteristic in question.