LOS ANGELES – Starting this week, census takers are grabbing reflective vests, face masks, bug spray and flashlights and heading out at night in groups of four to track down one of the hardest populations to count in the 2020 census — the homeless.Over three days and nights this week, census takers will fan out to shelters, soup kitchens, mobile food van stops and other places across the U.S.
where people experiencing homelessness often gather. They will follow that with overnight visits to encampments, under bridges, transit stations and other places where people live outside.Delayed for six months by the global pandemic, it’s one of the hardest logistical operations the U.S.