"I don't mind it," Joyner said of the survey. "If it's going help me then, yeah, I'll do it."
Joyner is no newcomer to a tent city; she lived in one after being evicted from an apartment two years ago, went on to earn a high school diploma during her time there, and returned to an apartment. Then, a few weeks ago, the welfare recipient again lost her housing.
Every other year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires states to do a full head count of the homeless in order to receive federal funding for services that benefit the homeless. Last year, about 14,000 homeless people were living in New Jersey. This year, HUD required only a count of people living in shelters.
In Camden County, however, volunteers decided to conduct a comprehensive count, looking for homeless individuals not only in shelters but also in encampments.
"We are making an effort to do full counts," said Joanne Locke, project coordinator for the Community Planning and Advocacy Council, a Pennsauken-based nonprofit in charge of the survey intakes for Camden County.
The data will be tallied by the Corporation for Supportive Housing. Preliminary totals are not expected until March or April, Locke said.
The homeless count for 2011 was 733, down from 775 the year before. Cathedral Kitchen director Karen Talarico said the actual number of homeless was from 20 percent to 25 percent higher.
The Point-in-Time "information is used to map out homeless-prevention efforts and to track homeless trends" such as age, migration, and race, said Freeholder Carmen Rodriguez, liaison to Camden County's Health and Human Services Department. "Because of Camden County's location, we see many homeless from out of the area, including Philadelphia and further north in New Jersey. We try to help everyone we can."
