The city responded to an increase in homeless deaths by intensifying encampment sweeps and adding emergency shelter at the expense of permanent housing. Experts say this has perpetuated the problem.
What was the population in 2019? Don’t we need that to understand that deaths outpace population growth?
I’m pretty sure the experts and agencies they talked to in this article have numbers for 2019.
If the newer population number is an undercount, how do we know the first clause in the sentence is true?
Because the reasons for that undercounting haven’t changed between 2019 and 2023, so the degree of undercounting is probably about the same, so even if the census numbers are an estimate they are still generally comparable, at least enough to say that (for example) an estimated 10-15% growth in the population experiencing homelessness and (for example) a 200% growth in deaths are out of whack with each other.
I’m pretty sure the experts and agencies they talked to in this article have numbers for 2019.
That’s my point. It’s bad writing to make a claim and then give all but one of the numbers that support the claim. It wouldn’t be alright even if we could trust journalists to be accurate.
I’m pretty sure the experts and agencies they talked to in this article have numbers for 2019.
Because the reasons for that undercounting haven’t changed between 2019 and 2023, so the degree of undercounting is probably about the same, so even if the census numbers are an estimate they are still generally comparable, at least enough to say that (for example) an estimated 10-15% growth in the population experiencing homelessness and (for example) a 200% growth in deaths are out of whack with each other.
That’s my point. It’s bad writing to make a claim and then give all but one of the numbers that support the claim. It wouldn’t be alright even if we could trust journalists to be accurate.