Across New London County Tuesday night, volunteer teams four people strong canvassed the city with clipboards and flashlights. 

They weren't going door-to-door and making persuasive arguments about which presidential candidate is best, though — they were searching for the homeless.  

Called a Point-in-Time count, the effort is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and has happened statewide at the end of January for nine years — with the exception of last year because of weather.

Typically, explained Anne Stockton, the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut community impact director and an organizer of the count, counts for those who live on the streets occur every other year, with shelter counts taking place annually.

But this year, she said, leaders in the state's various regions voted to host a sheltered and unsheltered count in part because of incentives from the federal government.

Stockton said she had no trouble finding volunteers, despite the back-to-back years.

"We had an overwhelming response," Stockton said. "After I first sent out the email, I had 35 people volunteer within two or three days."

Many of the 39 volunteers — split almost evenly between New London and Norwich home bases — were participating for the first time. Some said they work in the homeless outreach field. Others said they know someone else who does.

In Norwich, volunteer Ida Parker, who runs the shelters at Thames Valley Council for Community Action, said the survey helps organizations like hers band together to demonstrate need.

"Getting the accurate number of the homeless in the area is very helpful to everyone here because they're all (working) in a housing program or shelter," she said, pointing to the volunteers. "That is how we as regions would apply for federal, state and local funding. We're able to take numbers and say we need more subsidized housing, more permanent housing, more diversion funds."

All of the volunteers underwent the same training about a week ago, Stockton said, learning where the night would take them, what to look for, how to be respectful in approaching those who may be homeless and how to be safe.

In every group of two to four, one person — either a homeless outreach worker, somebody who has done a Point-in-Time count before or both — acted as the leader.

For the group tasked with canvassing an area that spanned from Hempstead Street to the water, that person was Erik Clevenger, director of Reliance House's Outreach to Homeless Program and a participant in Point-in-Time counts since they began statewide nine years ago.

Armed with bags filled with gloves, hats, bus tickets and other necessities in addition to their clipboards and flashlights, he and three women — one of whom was City Councilor Martha Marx — took to the streets of New London.

By 7:30 p.m., the closest they'd come to finding a homeless person was when they took a peek under City Pier, where blankets and bags of goods lined the rocks, but no one was anywhere to be found.

In Lisbon — one of the areas where the 10 teams of volunteers covering New London County were sent — Lisa Shippee and Tracy White visited a couple, who may or may not be counted as homeless, in their trek through locations people could use to camp, including the parking lot of a Wal-Mart.

Shippee, director of housing services at the Thames Valley Council for Community Action, read survey questions from her clipboard to the couple, who were living in a trailer with heat and electricity but without running water.

She then presented them with a bag that included a gift card and informed them to reach out to 2-1-1 for more information about social services if they needed it.

After leaving the house, Shippee noted that there are many different ways of being homeless that she's seen.

"We have to be careful to not impose a definition of housing on everyone," Shippee said.

Standing in the basement of the New London Homeless Hospitality Center — where volunteers gathered before heading out — Kelly Thompson, executive director of Alliance For Living, said she and Clevenger were stationed in the center for last year's count.

"We know that people that were brought in last year during the PIT count are now housed," Thompson said. "To be able to see that process come full circle really gives you gratification. This is important work. We're not just going out for one night. This is about building relationships with people and getting them into housing."

Last year's Point-in-Time count revealed 270 homeless people in New London County, with 33 being unsheltered.

In each of the three years prior to 2015, the count found more than 300 people living without homes.

"We know we've made an impact," Clevenger said. "To go out tonight and hopefully not find a lot of people, to actually see the impact, that's what I'm hoping for."

l.boyle@theday.com

Twitter: @LindsayABoyle

n.lynch@theday.com

Twitter: @_nathanlynch