Every two years, more than 100 volunteers set out on a countywide mission to collect data for the homeless census, program officials said.
The deadline to register is Jan. 20 and the count will be conducted from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Jan. 28 in the west, east and central sections of Contra Costa County.
Homeless Program director Cynthia Belon said that about 15,000 people experience homelessness in the county each year and that on any given night there are more than 7,000 people without a home.
In a statement, Belon said, "In order to define the progress we are making toward ending homelessness in our community we need to collect baseline data on the county's homeless population every couple of years.
Volunteers are key to the success of this effort."
In the 2007 count, more than 4,000 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people were identified.
To register for the homeless census, volunteers should contact Rachel Goldman at Rachel@homebaseccc.org.
