The Perspectives/Initiatives part of this special edition on homelessness in Canada is dedicated to the issue of enumerating homeless individuals and the particular challenges related to gathering data on this population. Despite many debates on the topic both in Canada and internationally, this issue remains one of the most controversial within the scientific community and communities of practice working in the area of homelessness. Although some advocates and policy-makers do not question the importance of enumerating homeless populations, many other actors continue to have doubts about the value and accuracy of the exercise.
The pages that follow present an overview of the key issues and considerations in enumerating homeless populations in Canada and give an account of the concrete experiences of two communities - Calgary and Ottawa - that have counted the homeless populations in their jurisdictions at regular intervals for a number of years. (abstract from the article. Access to the article is available with subscription to http://ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb...