Counting Travis County homeless

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Volunteers searched Austin’s trails and streets Sunday, taking a census of sorts of the city's homeless population.

This annual homeless count shows community leaders the extent of homelessness in Austin. The count also provides an estimate of how much federal funding is needed during the year for homeless service providers around Travis County.

“We have to, on an annual basis, count as many homeless people as we possibly can. This leads to funding for us to provide services for homeless people, so, that's the more immediate impact of the count,” said Rick Rivera, Chair of the Travis County Homeless Count.

Volunteers spent six hours Sunday counting everyone they could find. Now organizers must cross-check those lists to make sure no one gets counted twice. They hope to release the official number some time in the next few weeks.