“Massive” is the term often used to describe the financial assistance and services provided to victims of Hurricane Katrina who were left homeless.

In Washington, D.C., residents mobilized numerous volunteers and offered a range of resources to the disaster’s homeless victims, particularly those who ended up in the District.

The public’s display of compassion was an essential component in last fall’s effort to house and care for victims of Katrina, and that response gave both government and private service providers several important lessons in how to approach issues facing the local homeless population.

Those that work with the area homeless said that this response showed that publicity begets compassion, and compassion begets action. They added that the response also showed that resources can be used effectively only if programs are organized efficiently and if the homeless population is made aware of the services that are available.

Both public and private services providers say they intend to apply the lessons learned from Katrina to Washington’s homelessness problem.

For one thing, the city government hopes to create more public awareness of homelessness issues.

``The greatest impetus for public support for the Katrina evacuees was the expansive news coverage of that disaster,’’ said Lynn French, senior policy advisor for homelessness and special needs housing in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Children, Youth, Families and Elders.

``Of course we do not control the media, so it is not within the city’s power to produce such coverage for homeless city residents,’’ she added. “Still, we decided let’s make an effort to try and get the public as interested [in the homeless population] as when Katrina occurred.”

She said that because of this effort the city has had success in finding some private landlords who are willing to rent apartments with the guarantee of city subsidies and has identified more resources for clothing and employment.

French said that although the publicity about Katrina produced an enormous outpouring of public support and aid, the disaster’s homeless victims received the same support services that the city’s homeless population receives.

Local homeless people, including some Street Sense vendors, disagree.

Many more resources were made available following Katrina, and Katrina evacuees were given preference for housing and jobs, local critics say. They note that soon after some evacuees arrived in the District, a job fair was held at the D.C. Armory and no local homeless people were allowed inside.

“We were homeless before those from hurricane Katrina became homeless. And even though it was not collective, we have all still lost everything,” Street Sense vendor Brenda Wilson said. “So if the government could find resources to take care of them why can’t they still find the resources to take care of us.”

Although private aid groups in the District did an excellent job of organizing volunteers, homeless Katrina victims did not use many of the resources provided, said Tom Morris of SURGE, a Katrina-relief volunteer group organized by Career Professionals International.

“Everyone that we interacted with had a lot of services available, but people either weren’t using them or didn’t know where to find them,” said Morris. Because of this low response, SURGE decided to turn toward helping the local homeless population.

But while SURGE has worked with a few local homeless-services providers, Morris said it is hard to get volunteers interested in helping homeless people because there little coverage of them, compared to the national attention that Katrina received.

Meanwhile, the city government has been responding to the lessons of Katrina on notifying homeless people about available services. The deputy mayor’s office has organized a series of “service fairs” to help connect the D.C. homeless population with the necessary resources.

“By bringing together all relevant agencies and programs with a group of homeless clients, we can bring ‘all hands on deck’ and focus them upon providing services,” French said.

The first service fair was conducted last December at D.C. Village. It targeted homeless families and affordable housing. A total of 185 families attended the fair - 194 adults and 380 children.

The next fair will be held April 19 and will target homeless youth. Three-hundred young people are expected at the fair.

“We’re gonna work our way though the whole homeless population, taking it one step at a time,” French said.