Bill doesn’t receive many visitors. His home – a battered green and orange tent tucked in a small clearing in the deep woods of Stanley Park – is off the beaten track. The site is sparsely decorated, just a scattered pile of half-filled garbage bags and a pair of jeans hanging from a branch. He’s been camped here a year, he says, though he’s been a resident of the park for many of his 30 years living rough.

Once a week, he hikes into the city for supplies, but otherwise sees very few people. He prefers it that way, he says. “You want to stay away from all that organized crap. Camping seems good to me.”

Most days, Bill, who prefers not to give his last name, would be left to enjoy his time alone in the woods. But on Wednesday he was one of thousands of people that Metro Vancouver hoped to survey, as the region sent 700 volunteers into city streets and parks to conduct its fourth homeless count this decade.