Montgomery County officials released point-in-time count numbers last week that show th number of Montgomery County homeless is on the rise, writes Emily Neil for the WHYY.

The count found that on January 23, a Code Blue night, 435 people were experiencing homelessness, which is an increase compared to 357 people last year. Out of that, 334 were staying in emergency shelters, which is an increase of 27 percent from the year before. Meanwhile, 101 people were unsheltered, which is a decrease of 8 percent compared to 2023.

A Code Blue night is a designation the county’s Office of Public Health issues when the temperature drops to 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

According to Kayleigh Silver, administrator for the Montgomery County Office of Housing and Community Development, the overall increase in the number of homeless people is due to “increased housing prices and the lack of housing affordability options in Montgomery County.”

She added that the decrease in people who were unsheltered on a Code Blue night and a rise in those in emergency shelters reflects the efforts made by the county in the past year to expand emergency shelter capacities for Code Blue nights.

Read more about the point-in-time count in the WHYY.