NJ To Survey Homeless Population In Winter Drive

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Social workers and volunteers will fan out across New Jersey this week to survey the homeless and provide them with food, clothes, personal items and social services in what has become an annual winter drive.

The census being conducted Wednesday will not be as robust as last year's count, which was a biannual survey required by the federal government.

But officials say information gathered in the "point-in-time" look will help them develop plans to provide the homeless with shelter and permanent housing.

Experts say there were about 14,000 homeless people in New Jersey last year -- a figure that includes those who were living in temporary housing but still fell under the definition of homeless. In 2009, the state's homeless population totaled about 13,000.

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