Besides the numbers, people who deal with the homeless situation had some other progress to report as well in a formal presentation last week.

“There are some numbers that are encouraging,” said Bo Glenn, chairman of Durham’s Homeless Services Advisory Committee. He was quick to add, though, “It’s hard to draw conclusions.”

The annual “point-in-time count” findings included:

• 759 individuals in homeless shelters, transitional housing or on the streets, up 9 percent from 698 counted in 2012;

• 57 homeless families with a total of 181 members, up from 43 families with 126 members in 2012;

• 53 individuals “unsheltered” – sleeping in cars, in the woods “or other places not fit for human habitation,” as count organizer Minnie Forte-Brown put it – down from 63 in 2012;

• 87 “chronic homeless,” down from 134 in 2012 and the lowest number since 2005;

• 93 homeless veterans, down from 116 in 2012.

• 8 of the homeless had HIV/AIDS, up from one in 2012 but still down from a 2008 high of 71.

“It’s statistical data,” Glenn said. “It’s one night; there are so many variables.”

Durham’s data was taken Jan. 30, when counters tallied the numbers housed in dedicated shelters and as many of the unsheltered as they could find.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities that receive federal grants for homeless services to make a one-night count in late January each year.

HUD, and local agencies, use the data to evaluate and amend their service programs and priorities. Veterans have been designated a federal priority in the past few years, and that concentration is one reason Durham saw a decline in their total, Glenn said.

Reducing the “chronic homeless” has been another priority. HUD defines those as having “disabling conditions who have been homeless continually for one year or longer or who have had four or more episodes of homelessness in the past three years.” Chronic homeless account for most of the public cost of dealing with homelessness, because they use a disproportionately high amount of emergency room, jail and other public services.

“It’s good to see some reduction,” said Housing for New Hope Director Terry Allebaugh. “From the continued emphasis over the years, this is sort of the result of some of that labor.”

Since the 2012 count was taken the number of beds for the homeless has gone up from 881 to 1,126. That total includes space in emergency shelters, “transitional” housing – for people in a process to securing permanent housing – and “permanent supportive housing” – for those with disabilities requiring supervision.

Most of the increase came at the Durham Rescue Mission, which opened a new Center for Hope with 88 beds on Jan. 30.

Glenn said having more beds may have contributed to the increased numbers in the point-in-time count.

“There are people … looking for services, they’re going to go where the services are offered,” he said. “If there are vacancies in Orange County, they’re going to go to Orange County.”

Orange County’s point-in-time numbers are not compiled yet, but Orange Homeless Program Coordinator Jamie Rohe, like Glenn, said the annual count does not really produce an accurate description of a community’s homeless condition.

Required to follow HUD definitions, the counts do not include those in jail, hospitals or other institutions who have no homes to go to when released, nor does it include persons “doubled up” in others’ households on a temporary basis, she said.

“It’s one night,” Glenn said. “It does not include those sleeping on someone’s couch, in an unheated garage or in the woods so deep we can’t find them.”