Petersburg community leaders seek local homeless data

Last week Lutheran Church pastor Mike Schwarte called a meeting of community leaders to address a perceived increase in the local homeless population.

"It seems like the frequency and intensity is increasing about the transient and the homeless situation in town," Schwarte said. "There seems to be two classifications. There's the people who live here and the people who are passing through town working for the summer."

The evidence of an increased homeless population is anecdotal at this point. No thorough data exists yet on the prevalence or length of homelessness in the area or on whether the...