Decisions about how inclusive one should be in attempting to sample and/or enumerate homeless
populattons are best guided by information regarding what is sacrificed when different sampling
choices are made. This article draws upon data from the Course of Homelessness Study to explore
how three progressively less inclusive sampling frames affect understandings of the size and
characteristics of homeless populations in two Los Angeles sites. Findings suggest that less
inclusive sampling frames substantially affect populatton estimates, but do not consistently
produce biased estimates of population characteristics. Whether, and the extent to which, such
bias is introduced varies by site, by gender, and by the population characteristic in question.
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