With the nearly-full moon shrouded by clouds and just a flashlight illuminating the darkness of the Port Angeles Waterfront Trail, Greg Denuel and three other men made their way down the pavement looking for signs of life.
It was about 10 p.m., and the temperature was in the low 40s. Their voices on the trail and a fog horn in the distance were the only sounds. Lights from a tanker glimmered across Port Angeles Harbor.
Denuel moved from the trail through a path trampled in tall, wet grass above the rocky beach, about 10 feet from where the salt water touches the shore.
He pointed down to an oval-shaped clearing among the boulders: “I’ve slept here before.”
It’s the people who are sleeping there now who the group was looking for Wednesday night as it scoured the Port Angeles waterfront to count the area’s homeless population — an effort done simultaneously in Jefferson County, in Sequim and on the West End.
With flashlights, bags of extra clothing and snacks in hand, groups of volunteers — some, like Denuel, who are homeless, and others who volunteer or work with social service agencies in Clallam County — set out that night to conduct the second point-in-time count of homeless people in the city.
All the usual spots
From 9 p.m. to midnight or later, counters scoured spots in Port Angeles where the homeless are known to seek shelter or hang out — under bridges, on the beach, in parks.
All week long throughout the county, people without adequate shelter filled out surveys at food banks, domestic violence centers, shelters, bus stops, food stands, churches, stores and on the street, giving their initials, age, gender, the ZIP code of their last permanent home, and answering what caused them to be homeless and the type of shelter, if any, they stayed in the previous night.
Their answers will help determine how many homeless people live in Clallam County and their situations. Those results will be compiled with statewide figures.
Organizers of the count say the results will aid in obtaining resources for more services and housing.
“Part of what we’re doing in this whole process is educating the community, too, about the homeless situation,” said Beth Palmer, adult services coordinator for West End Outreach in Forks and the lead person in the West End on housing issues.
The first count, conducted in October 2003, found 809 people without homes in the county.
Count organizers estimated there were many more that they weren’t able to find.
