DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Officials in St. Louis County will be counting the number of homeless people who are avoiding shelter on a night of brutal cold.

The county Public Health and Human Service Department hopes to get an accurate count of “unsheltered homeless” people this month.

It’s part of the federally required Point-in-Time Homeless Count. The purpose is to identify people who are homeless and not staying in a shelter on Wednesday night, Jan. 23.

Money and resources to fight homelessness are awarded to communities based on documented counts of homeless persons and families. An “unsheltered homeless” person is someone living in a car, park, abandoned building, bus or train station, a campground or the woods.

Homeless people can complete a brief survey at the Government Services Center in Duluth on Thursday.

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