The tally is required in order to get federal money for homeless programs. Stephanie Knowles is with the county’s Department of Human Assistance which is heading up the so-called “street count”.

She says the volunteers will also be interviewing the homeless for a survey. 

“The survey tells us a little bit more about their condition, why they’re homeless, if they might be chronically homeless and then that gives us an assessment on where we are in the county of homeless people.” 

She says last year, there were 2,678 homeless people counted…an increase of about 9% from the previous year.
 
The county gets about $13.5 million from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to pay for emergency shelters and transitional housing.

Tuesday's street count will be from 8 PM to midnight.