THE CENSUS BEGINS: COUNTING THE HOMELESS : For People on the Streets, It’s a Rare Chance to Be Heard

For the nation’s homeless, the arrival of census takers--often with news crews and community activists following closely behind--presented an opportunity for a relatively voiceless segment of American society to speak out and to be heard.

Here, from staff and wire reports compiled by Times staff writer John H. Lee, is a sampling of what homeless people were saying Tuesday night about the extraordinary attempt to count them:

“What are they going to use the numbers for anyway? To tell us there ain’t no homeless problem? Hell, I’m a living example that there is a problem. We need jobs, not surveys.” --Robert Allen, 28, of Toledo, Ohio, who walked away when counters approached him.

“The weather’s started to change, so a lot of the people usually on the street in Los Angeles have already left for other parts of the country.” --Carl Lewis, 22, who said he has been homeless in Los Angeles for eight months.

“It shows that they’re starting to recognize us as humans and not the scum of the Earth.” --Chester Broadwell, 21, of Burlington, Vt.

“They will be coming here in their Guess? jeans, LA Gear tennies, and designer haircuts, and we are supposed to believe they are going to help us?” --Tony Watson, 33, who said he has been homeless for two years and was found Tuesday night at a shelter in Bell.

“Homeless people count, too. Just because I ain’t got no money don’t mean I ain’t a person.” --Steve Weber, 37, who sleeps between the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan and begs money with a plastic foam cooler lid that says “Homeless Man--Please Help.”

“The horses are already out of the barn, and it’s a little late to be thinking about this just now.”

--Gerald Greene, interviewed at the Beacon Light Mission in Wilmington.