Volunteers Count SC Homeless As Economy Worsens

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina organizers say they don’t know if the impact of the current recession will show up in this year’s count of the homeless.

One of the coordinators of the count in central South Carolina is Anita Floyd of the United Way of the Midlands. Floyd says many people affected by home foreclosures and recent job losses are more likely to be seeking help from social service organizations than actually living on the streets.

Floyd says most of the people interviewed at a winter shelter in downtown Columbia on Thursday night were men over 40 years old who are chronically homeless. A few said they were homeless because they recently lost their jobs.

It will be months before the numbers are compiled.