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Jose Cruz knows the streets he lived on them for a decade, "back and forth, back and forth." Cruz put his intimate knowledge of the ways of Norwalk's homeless people to work when he and his caseworker, Kevin Osnay, went out to count them last week. And Cruz knew just where to look: Laundromats, the train station, the bus terminal, under the bridges and in semi-sheltered spots off sidewalks.
About 20 people participated in the biennial count of local unsheltered people, fanning out from the Norwalk Police Headquarters to Norwalk, Darien, New Canaan, Westport and Wilton armed with sandwiches and blankets to give away. In addition to counting, they had questions to ask, such as "Why are you homeless?"
Most of the counters work with the homeless at various agencies, including Keystone House and Hall-Brooke Behavioral Health Services. Then there are people such as Cruz, who "really know where to look" and "have a much easier time engaging people when they find them," Stephanie Ross said.
Ross, a consultant to not-for-profit organizations, and Christi Pope, executive director of Christian Community Action, stayed at the police station and waited for their helpers to return. They said the count and the survey would be used to determine funding for programs to help the homeless through the Norwalk-Fairfield Continuum of Care, a loosely defined planning network of area agencies, formed by the Department of Urban Housing and Development.
Each agency involved applies based on the findings of the count. "That money is also leveraged to bring in other services, and other housing dollars from non-HUD sources," Ross said. "Our continuing main thrust is permanent supportive housing units in some kind of shape or form, either additional units or rent supplements where people can rent apartments."
The count was postponed a night because of a snowstorm. Both women agreed the count would be lower than normal because of the bad weather; many homeless people sought any shelter they could find. But the people at shelters were also being counted, and the women expected those numbers would be higher than usual.
Pope said there were 17 homeless people found on the streets of Norwalk. Cruz found four of them. He had expected to find 11 or 12.
Cruz said he had been led to homeless by depression, which led him to drugs. The vicious cycle fed on itself, as he was depressed because he had no apartment. Now he lives at Hall-Brooke House and does volunteer work there. "They give me a second chance, they never give up on me," he said.
Being homeless was rough. "I've seen shootings, stabbings, I've seen everything," he said. "One of my friends got killed, murdered. One of my drinking partners ... now I'm a new man."
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