The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless released a study on the number of homeless in the City of Chicago.
Homeless counts are never an exact science. Most cities, including Chicago, assess the need for homeless services by counting occupied shelter beds, then touring city streets to get a rough idea of how many more people are resorting to park benches, sidewalks and bridge archways.
Under that formula, Chicago officials estimated last year that there were about 6,715 homeless people in the city, a drop from an estimated 9,600 in 2004.
