Census Workers Search Camps, Shelters to Count Homeless Americans
人口普查部门搜查难民营、收容所清查流浪人口
This week, workers for the United States Census Bureau will try to count homeless Americans.
本周，美国人口普查局的工作人员将试图统计无家可归的美国人口数量。
The U.S. Constitution requires that a full census, or count, of the country’s population take place every 10 years. The numbers help officials to shape congressional representation and decide how to spend federal money.
美国宪法要求每10年进行一次全面的人口普查或统计。这些数字有助于官方组建国会代表并决定联邦资金的分配。
Al Fontenot is the associate director of the U.S. Census Bureau. He spoke to an advisory committee last week. He said the Bureau has identified about 49,000 places across the U.S. where homeless people will be counted. The places include more than 33,000 camps, almost 10,000 shelters and 5,000 soup kitchens.
阿尔·丰特诺是美国人口普查局的副局长。他上周在一个咨询委员会上发表了讲话。他说，人口普查局已经在全美确定了约4.9万个需要清查流浪人口的地点。这些地方包括33000多个营地，近10000个避难所和5000个救济站。
Counting the homeless is one of the hardest jobs for the U.S. Census Bureau. The effort is beginning six months later than planned because of the COVID-19 health crisis.
统计无家可归的流浪人口是美国人口普查局最困难的工作之一。由于新冠肺炎健康危机，这项工作比原计划晚实施了6个月。
Fontenot said, “We are making every effort to make sure that no one is left out of the count.”
丰特诺表示：“我们正在尽一切努力确保不遗漏任何一个人。”
A difficult job
困难重重的工作
The delay means workers will be on the job during warmer weather, when homeless people are spread out across larger areas. Also, most homeless shelters are only operating at 25 percent to 50 percent capacity because of coronavirus restrictions. Some homeless activists worry that the Census Bureau will not count the whole homeless population.
这一延迟意味着工人们将在高温天气下工作，而高温下流浪的人会分散到更广泛的区域。此外，因冠状病毒的限制要求，大多数流浪人口收容所仅收留25%到50%的人数。一些流浪人口活动家担心人口普查局无法统计全所有无家可归的人口。
Mike Arnold leads of aid group Midnight Mission. It provides beds, meals and drug abuse treatment on Skid Row, a poor area in Los Angeles.
迈克·阿诺德是援助组织“午夜使命”的负责人。它为洛杉矶贫困地区的“贫民窟”提供床位、膳食和药物滥用治疗。
Arnold said, “The best time to count is when it’s cold and when it’s dark, the way the county’s count is done. Fewer people are moving around and people are bedded down.”
阿诺德表示：“统计人口的最佳时间是在天冷和天黑的时候——地方的清点工作就是这样。因为那时较少有人四处游动，大都已被安顿下来。”
Beth Shinn is a professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee who researches homelessness. She said trying to count people living outdoors will be hard.
贝丝·申恩是田纳西州范德比尔特大学研究无家可归问题的教授。她说，要清点流浪在外的人是很困难的。
“People find places to be that aren’t necessarily visible,” Shinn said.
申恩称：“（流浪的）人们会去找尽可能不被人发现的地方。”
The homeless count is starting as the Census Bureau’s effort to count people living in what is called transitory housing ends this month. About 12,500 census takers started visiting more than 60,000 RV parks, campgrounds, marinas and hotels where people often live temporarily.
美国人口普查局对居住在所谓的临时住房中的人口统计工作将在本月结束，而后将开启针对无家可归的流浪人口的统计。大约12500名人口普查员已开始访问60000多个房车公园、露营地、码头和人们经常临时居住的酒店。
All field operations for the 2020 census are set to end September 30.
2020年人口普查的所有实地考察工作将于9月30日结束。
For the homeless count, if someone is sleeping, a census taker will count them without getting information about their age, race, sex or ethnic identity.
对于流浪人口的统计，如果被考察人正在睡觉，人口普查员会在不咨询关于他们的年龄、种族、性别或民族身份信息的情况下对他们进行统计。
Nowhere in the U.S. is the homeless crisis more visible than in Los Angeles. There, hundreds of people live in temporary shelters. A count last January by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported that there were more than 66,400 homeless people living in Los Angeles County. That is an increase of more than 12 percent from the year before.
在美国，流浪人口危机最明显的地方莫过于洛杉矶。那里有数百人居住在临时避难所。洛杉矶无家可归者服务局去年一月的一项统计显示，洛杉矶市有超过66400名无家可归者——比前一年增加了12%以上。
The wildfires in California only add to the difficulty of getting an exact count. Californian Democrat Jimmy Gomez is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He wonders if many people in the state will be counted at all. “That is a big concern with wildfires raging across California,” he said.
加州的野火也只会增加准确统计人口数量的难度。加州民主党人吉米·戈麦斯是美国众议院议员。他很怀疑该州是否会有许多人无法被统计在内。“这是加州野火肆虐带来的一个大问题，”他说道。
I’m Mario Ritter, Jr.
小马里奥·里特报道。
Census Workers Search Camps, Shelters to Count Homeless Americans
This week, workers for the United States Census Bureau will try to count homeless Americans.
The U.S. Constitution requires that a full census, or count, of the country’s population take place every 10 years. The numbers help officials to shape congressional representation and decide how to spend federal money.
Al Fontenot is the associate director of the U.S. Census Bureau. He spoke to an advisory committee last week. He said the Bureau has identified about 49,000 places across the U.S. where homeless people will be counted. The places include more than 33,000 camps, almost 10,000 shelters and 5,000 soup kitchens.
Counting the homeless is one of the hardest jobs for the U.S. Census Bureau. The effort is beginning six months later than planned because of the COVID-19 health crisis.
Fontenot said, “We are making every effort to make sure that no one is left out of the count.”
A difficult job
The delay means workers will be on the job during warmer weather, when homeless people are spread out across larger areas. Also, most homeless shelters are only operating at 25 percent to 50 percent capacity because of coronavirus restrictions. Some homeless activists worry that the Census Bureau will not count the whole homeless population.
Mike Arnold leads of aid group Midnight Mission. It provides beds, meals and drug abuse treatment on Skid Row, a poor area in Los Angeles.
Arnold said, “The best time to count is when it’s cold and when it’s dark, the way the county’s count is done. Fewer people are moving around and people are bedded down.”
Beth Shinn is a professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee who researches homelessness. She said trying to count people living outdoors will be hard.
“People find places to be that aren’t necessarily visible,” Shinn said.
The homeless count is starting as the Census Bureau’s effort to count people living in what is called transitory housing ends this month. About 12,500 census takers started visiting more than 60,000 RV parks, campgrounds, marinas and hotels where people often live temporarily.
All field operations for the 2020 census are set to end September 30.
For the homeless count, if someone is sleeping, a census taker will count them without getting information about their age, race, sex or ethnic identity.
Nowhere in the U.S. is the homeless crisis more visible than in Los Angeles. There, hundreds of people live in temporary shelters. A count last January by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported that there were more than 66,400 homeless people living in Los Angeles County. That is an increase of more than 12 percent from the year before.
The wildfires in California only add to the difficulty of getting an exact count. Californian Democrat Jimmy Gomez is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He wonders if many people in the state will be counted at all. “That is a big concern with wildfires raging across California,” he said.
I’m Mario Ritter, Jr.
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