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Each year, volunteers venture out nationwide on a single night for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time count in an effort to tally the country’s homeless population. Rural volunteers say they rely on the count to aid their unhoused populations. Meanwhile, experts say HUD may be undercounting.

Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska school districts are undercounting students who are homeless, which means thousands are not getting the support they need.

States had until the end of September to distribute federal rescue funds to school districts to help students struggling with housing get equal access to education. Barring extensions, most states will leave money on the table — including several in the Midwest.

The study shows homelessness has risen since last year —and outreach workers aim to place people in permanent housing with the help of a new data-collection method.

Bill sponsor Alisha Sonnier says that housing is a human right and that the city has a responsibility to help people transition to permanent housing.

A law passed last year made sleeping on state-owned land a misdemeanor in Missouri. It went into effect Jan. 1, but critics say there is still a lack of clarity from the state surrounding its implementation.

With a fraction of millions of American Rescue Plan Act dollars allocated or spent, the city and groups serving the homeless face each other across a divide of paperwork and procedures.

St. Louis’ first intentional encampment for homeless people provides an alternative for residents of the impromptu Interco Plaza encampment downtown.

Temperatures have yet to reach their coldest levels this season in the St. Louis area, but people experiencing homelessness are already enduring the…