Larry Patterson didn’t expect the U.S. Census Bureau to be at Glide Church on March 30 when he got in the bread line for the soup kitchen. It’s a good thing though, he admitted, considering his nomadic sleeping situation, he probably wouldn’t have been counted.

Patterson, 43, works construction when there are jobs but has been homeless off and on now for about 6 years.

He doesn’t know what the census is for but knows it’s important.

“I’m alive aren’t I? I’m a part of society aren’t I?” asks Patterson. “Isn’t that what this is for? Counting the people who are alive on this earth.”

Hundreds more like Patterson waited in a line that wrapped around two corners of a block outside of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Inside, Glide personnel and census officials filled a room feeding and accounting for those often neglected in a city with the highest per capita rate of homelessness in the U.S.

San Francisco’s homeless figures have ranged between 6,500 and 8,600 people in the last decade, according to organizers at the San Francisco Homeless Services Coalition, but the real number is anybody’s guess. The inconsistent statistical information of how many homeless people are actually living on the street is what proves to be the biggest impediment of perennial attempts to solve the crisis.

The group from the bureau was starting its second full day of counting the homeless, and the focus on this day was on soup kitchens. Glide feeds more than a 1,000 people every day for lunch, making it the perfect opportunity for the bureau to do some counting.

The Census Bureau mobilized 800 enumerators or “people counters” to canvass 1,700 blocks during the three day operation which ends Wednesday, said Michael Burns who oversees Northern California and much of the West as the deputy regional director of the Seattle region.

Burns says the importance of being complete with people on the streets is the same as it is for counting housed people. The more accurate the count, the more accurately federal, state and city grants for social service programs can be allocated to a particular region. Moreover, the tally can potentially affect the number of representatives for state and federal legislature which is based on population size.

According to Burns, $1,400 in federal funding is funneled annually to California per person, based on census counts. A recently released Brookings Institute study, used by the bureau and the federal stimulus-funded JOBS Now program recruited for outreach to hard to count populations, shows that in San Francisco the figure is closer to $3,862. The figure could have been higher, according to a spokesman for Mayor Gavin Newsom, but over 100,000 San Francisco residents were left out of the 2000 census, costing the City an estimated $300 million in lost federal money over the past 10 years.

“If you’re interested in the well being of your neighborhood and your family, then it’s best to participate in the census,” said Burns.

After the 2000 Census, lawmakers began pressing the importance of the Census recording exactly how many homeless people it found, instead of grouping them into a less specific category called “other noninstitutionalized group quarters.”

The census is conducted every 10 years, but it wasn’t until 1980 that the bureau made concerted efforts to count the homeless. Homeless people will be asked the same sorts of questions housed people are including name, age, sex, race and location, Burns said. Every staff member of the bureau is sworn to an oath of confidentiality which if broken, will result in a large fine and jail time.

“The trust factor is very critical,” said Glide’s Chief Executive Officer Willa Seldon. “The homeless are receptive to help but become reluctant when dealing with government workers.”

Because of that, for the twenty-third census since 1790, the bureau partnered with service providers like Dolores Street Community Services, Mission SRO Collaborative in the Mission District and other advocacy groups, and shelters to reach out and pinpoint areas where the homeless gather. Campaign organizers have also worked together with the Census Bureau to provide translators at questionnaire assistance centers and recounting sites for people to pick up a questionnaire if they think they’ve been missed.

Under the umbrella of the Yes We Count! coalition, outreach coordinators like Kendra Froshman of the Mission SRO Collaborative have been hired by the bureau to act as cultural facilitators to help mediate or bridge the gap between the bureau and places with a large transient or non-english speaking population such as shelters or residential hotels.

“That connection with somebody that somebody knows helps to decrease those fears to actually get to that point where people are listening and participating,” said Burns.

Alex Darr, office manager of the San Francisco census office that covers all of the Mission and Bayview districts is a veteran of the 2000 census. Employing residents of the area, Darr says, will reassure people that responding to the census is not a risk because, “it’s easier to hear about this kind of thing from your neighbor as opposed to a federal worker.”

Darr and Froshman are both working with the SF Day Laborer program to train day laborers and domestic workers to go out and engage their community in active participation with the census. The group is hoping to organize a “March to the Mailbox” event tentatively scheduled for April 10, to create awareness within the single room occupancy hotels, or SROs, that scatter the Mission neighborhood.