The number of homeless people in Alachua County rose from 952 to 1,631, a 71-percent increase, since January of 2007, according to the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry.
The data, which were collected during a 24-hour period on January 27 and 28 included results from a survey and information from schools, shelters, jails and other Alachua County institutions.
"The amount of time that people spend on the street is getting longer, especially for families," said Jon DeCarmine, director of the coalition. "And the longer you're on the streets, the harder it is to get back off of them."
The number of homeless school children also rose, from 279 in 2007 to 546 in 2009, a 96- percent increase. These children often represent hidden homeless - parents who are likely not housed but are difficult to count.
"Homeless children are kind of like the canary in the coal mine," DeCarmine said. "When we see the number of homeless children go up we can virtually guarantee an increase in the overall number of homeless."
While many housed people in Gainesville are familiar with the homeless who hang around downtown, these people don't represent the diversity of the homeless, DeCarmine said.
"Those people who present 100 percent of the public perception make up about 10 percent of the population," he said.
DeCarmine, who has helped the coalition bring over $8 million in state and federal funds to the local homeless assistance network since 2003, said he feels this misperception makes homeless advocacy more difficult.
"We tend to marginalize and push the homeless to the furthest edges of society and then question why they can't get back in," he said.
