The ones most in need of help may be the first into the shelter system.

They asked, for example, how many people in the shelter system need drug treatment, mental health care, and job training.

"Anybody who tried to run the shelter system would find it quite difficult."

On average, families stay close to seven months in the city's shelter system.

There are 4,500 families with 11,000 children in the shelter system.

There are about 5,600 families and 6,600 single adults in the city's shelter system.

He seemed to know nothing of the city's shelter system, which can provide for 6,300 people a night.

Some 33,840 people are in the shelter system, the most on record.

He was one of more than 5,400 men in the city's shelter system that night.

"Since he was in and out of the shelter system, he'd be a hard person to track down."