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KPBS Midday Edition

Annual Homeless Count To Employ New High-Tech Strategies

The homeless tent shelter at 16th Street and Newton Avenue in downtown San Diego, Dec. 1, 2017.
Matt Hoffman / KPBS
The homeless tent shelter at 16th Street and Newton Avenue in downtown San Diego, Dec. 1, 2017.
Annual Homeless Count To Employ New High-Tech Strategies
GUEST: Tamara Kohler, executive director, San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless Subscribe to the Midday Edition podcast on iTunes, Google Play or your favorite podcatcher.

More than 1,500 volunteers will fan out across San Diego County Friday to tally the region's homeless population.

The count will determine how much federal money the county receives to fund to homeless services.

Last year's Point In Time Count found 5,000 homeless people living unsheltered or in vehicles and about 3,600 in shelters. Hundreds of people were missed.

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This year drones and helicopters equipped with infrared technology are expected to help boost the efficacy of the count and result in a higher figure.

Tamera Kohler, chief executive officer of the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless, joins Midday Edition Thursday to talk about some of those changes.