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Report Shows Decrease In Homeless Numbers

Rosie O'Beirne, flickr Creative Commons

This year's Wichita-Sedgwick County Point-In-Time Homeless Count showed a decrease in the number of homeless individuals since 2014. KMUW’s Abigail Wilson reports...

The count showed that there are about 11 percent fewer homeless people in Sedgwick County. An estimated 561 people in were found to be homeless, down from 631 in 2014.

Pat Hanrahan, President of United Way of the Plains, says the numbers are used to allocate funds to the community based on need. A variety of services are offered to the homeless at the event as well.

“For example, we offer free haircuts. A lot of the people coming in got flu shots," Hanrahan says. "We also offered them some of the various homeless programs that are available in the community. So it's really meant to be of service to them while we're able to get the information we need to get these federal grants.”

He says the decrease could be a result of a few factors including the economy, more access to programs and the transient nature of the homeless community.

Click here to learn more about the Wichita-Sedgwick County Point-In-Time Homeless Count.