On March 20-21, 1990, the Census Bureau conducted "Shelter and Street- Night" to count components of the homeless population in emergency shelters and street locations. Observers were placed in a sample of street sites in 5 cities to report on the census enumeration process. Comparison of observer reports with census returns indicates that street enumeration was not carried out in a comparable, standardized way in the 5 cities. The main operational problems were enumerator failure to enumerate sites and selectivity in approaching people within sites. Variability in how the operation was carried out reduces the comparability of street counts from place to place.
