Officials and volunteers in Santa Barbara County conducted the annual county-wide point-in-time count Wednesday.
The census counts the number of homeless individuals and families experiencing homelessness on any given day.
Volunteers broken down into teams canvassed assigned routes throughout the county.
"Our volunteers were out bright and early this morning at 5 a.m. starting to talk to folks that are unsheltered on the streets," said Kirsten Cahoon, the director of homeless services at the Good Samaritan Shelter. "They were all able to pretty much interact with somebody on the streets and get the surveys done, offer them a gift card, and really get an idea of what our unsheltered population looks like right now."
The information collected will eventually be used to plan and distribute resources to address homelessness.
"This count is really a good reference for us to understand what like the current needs are around our unsheltered homeless population," Cahoon said. "Our shelters are open to everybody and constantly taking in new clients."
Cahoon added that the official count won't be released by the county until about April or May.
