Lawrence’s homeless are being asked to weigh in on whether the city deserves to be called the second-meanest city in the country.

“We want to hear what they have to say,” said Helen Hartnett, an assistant social work professor at Kansas University.

Hartnett’s students have distributed fliers, asking the homeless to come to the Lawrence Public Library today at 4 p.m. to fill out a seven-page survey.

“It takes about 20 minutes,” Hartnett said.

Some of the questions focus on demographics: age, length of homelessness, previous residence. Others are meant to gauge whether Lawrence police, businesses and the community at large are mean.

Earlier this year, the National Homeless Coalition called Lawrence the second-meanest city in the country. The designation stemmed from city officials enacting ordinances that made it illegal to panhandle, sleep on sidewalks or hang out on rooftops.

Advocates for Lawrence’s homeless dismissed the ranking.

“It’s become sort of a running joke,” said Loring Henderson, director at the Lawrence Community Shelter. “Anytime there’s a problem, somebody says, ‘See, Lawrence is the second-meanest city.'”

The ranking, Henderson said, overlooked how city officials have put up $160,000 for on-the-street case managers who will help the homeless find jobs and apartments.

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center is expected to hire the case managers later this month.

Henderson welcomed having social work students poll the homeless.

“I’ve seen the questions; they’re good,” he said. “They’ll give us good information.”

Hartnett’s students began interviewing the homeless last week.

“We have 15 surveys,” Hartnett said. “We’d like to have 60.”

Plans call for sharing the survey’s results with city officials.