Reaching Out to Those Who Wont Come in

Damon Winter/The New York Times

Ruth Palapa and Josh Rotkin on patrol in Midtown, offering aid to a woman on Fifth Avenue.

By JULIE BOSMAN

He was identified on paper only as James Unknown, a white male in his 50s with a temporary address near 57th Street and Second Avenue.

On a wind-whipped Wednesday night as the temperature plunged below freezing, two social workers set out in a van to find him, the first of 10 homeless people scattered across Midtown Manhattan they would look for that night.

On nights when the wind chill dips to 20 degrees, the city’s Department of Homeless Services declares a Level 2 “Code Blue.” Starting at 8 p.m., its outreach teams divide the city into zones and drive around in vans, armed with lists of the most vulnerable homeless people. They visit, or try to visit, each person every two hours, all night long.

The outreach workers try to persuade the homeless to climb in the van to be taken to a shelter. Only a small fraction say yes.

The teams’ real mission, a city official said, is “death prevention.”

James Unknown was spotted just before 9 p.m. “There he is — over on the right,” said Ruth Palapa, 41, a social worker who rode shotgun. She looked....Full article