Homeless population in Fresno, Fresno County rises

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The homeless count for the city of Fresno and Fresno County is climbing.

For three days volunteers with the Fresno-Madera Continuum of Care take to the streets to assess the homeless population.

Volunteers are given questions to ask, including why and how people wound up homeless.

The count is crucial for federal agencies to use to determine how much funding will be given to homeless services.

"When we deal with people who want housing and services, then I think it's appropriate to really look at people who are left over," said chair of FMCoC Shawn Jenkins. "But we haven't had the resources to help people who want housing yet."

In 2019, so far, there are more than 1,400 people homeless in the city of Fresno and 645 people in the county.

That's higher than last year. In 2018, there were 1,279 homeless in the city and 555 in the county.