Resources Scarce For Rural Homeless

According to John Parvensky, executive director of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, "We are concerned that the focus on chronic homelessness may have the unintended consequence of shifting services away from families and rural communities." The Coalition is one of several groups pushing the federal government to turn more attention to rural areas. The federal government blames rural communities for not accurately tracking the number of homeless people. Philip Mangano, the Bush administration's chief coordinator of homeless services says: "Like any profile of the homeless, there is a lot of anecdote and hearsay, but you need data and research to create policy."

Trinidad, Colorado, is a former old West coal town of 9,000 near the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Here, homeless people sleep under bridges or in tents and shacks behind the Wal-Mart. Sandi Espinoza, who directs the Open Door Soup Kitchen, says her organization is serving more meals than ever: to families, veterans, men just released from prison and a wide assortment of people smelling of liquor before noon. About 85 people come daily for lunch, twice the number from a few years ago.