car cityA local group is worked to raise awareness about Rochester’s homeless population by camping out in their cars.

The Car City event, hosted by Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (RAIHN), took place on May 1 at Asbury United Methodist Church. More than 40 people were in attendance to help bring attention to the issue, and to raise money for families staying in local shelters.

Kim Hunt-Uzelac, Network Director for RAIHN, said that people are often unaware of just how many people in the city are homeless.

“They’re often the hidden population of homeless in the city because we don’t see them on the street corners because they’re sometimes sleeping in cars or in shelters,” Hunt-Uzelac said.

As a result, many people are surprised when they realize that the homeless sometimes have cars to sleep in. Whether or not they have expenses like their car insurance rates, which are determined by the age of the driver, isn’t known, but vehicles are something of a last refuge for many of the area’s homeless.

And other spots and encampments are slowly being taken away by the city. In April, New York State asked the City of Rochester to limit access to shelter beneath the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Bridge, so crews began building a fence around the “Sanctuary Village.”

Homeless Rochesterians had been living beneath the bridge last year during warmer weather; their belongings could be spotted from parts of 490 near the bridge. Officials say those campers left when the temperatures dropped, but they left trash behind when they moved.

However, there are more risks than trash when it comes to public encampments, according to some officials.

On May 7, police found the body of 57-year-old Gail Neals in a wooded area near the train tracks on Hudson Ave.

While no facts are known about the case so far, police did note that the wooded area is known as a place where some homeless people will stay. Police found a tent about 100 feet back into the woods, but this was not where Neals’s body was discovered.