How many homeless?

The other day I mentioned a proposal in Wichita to raise about 4 million dollars to build office space to house administrators who will try to find someone to provide some housing for a few homeless people.

I thought it lay someplace between outrageous and absurd.

It's even worse than I thought.

Based on a homeless count in Sedgwick County that found 526 homeless people -- 89 of them chronically homeless -- the plan also recommended that there be an emergency shelter for 25 to 50 people.

The 4 million won't provide housing for those 89 people. It will administer a program to provide the housing which requires funding in addition to the 4 million dollars.

How to mislead with numbers.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness (who are those people) say on their website

Many people think of homelessness as strictly an urban phenomenon because homeless people are greater in number and are more visible in urban areas, but homelessness is pervasive in rural areas. The number of people who experience rural homelessness is unknown, but the last national count of homeless people found that 9 percent of homeless people live in rural areas.

Do they think 9% means something? Or do they just try to make us think it means something. About 25% of the total population lives in rural areas. Which kind of means that homeless is pretty much concentrated in urban areas.

When I see someone misuse numbers like that I figure that either they're stupid or they're just dishonest and they think we're stupid. Which catogory does The National Alliance to End Homelessness fit?