Homelessness remains a problem in Auburn and throughout King County.

But people who try to do something about it every day sounded an upbeat note for the City Council recently.

“We are taking a different approach to homelessness,” said Faith Richie, chief executive officer Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation. “We are looking more at trying to provide housing rather than provide a lot of shelter beds. And we’ve made some progress.”

On the positive side, Richie noted the City of Federal Way’s Multi-Service Center and its Reach Out Shelter, which houses 20 men at night. She also cited VCCC’s own hiring of additional outreach staff to work in the county.

Valley Cities also is building apartments for the homeless north of its Auburn offices on I Street Northeast.

Still the need looms large, and the numbers bear that out. Poverty remains a serious problem throughout the county, and Auburn has among the highest foreclosure data in King County.

Some 166 children throughout the county were listed as homeless in 2009 although that number is down from 225 children in 2006, Richie said.

King County’s annual one-night homeless count in January decreased from 60 in 2009 to 50 people.

Richie said other communities were not so fortunate, and Federal Way saw the biggest increase.

One of the reasons the County does a homeless count is to qualify for federal funding for homeless services.

“It does bring in homeless services funding for the County, but also it helps us learn who’s out there, whether the number is getting better and is there a pattern – single, family, gender, car vs. tent camping or people riding the buses all night,” Richie said. “In Auburn there seems to be a pretty consistent pattern of more people sleeping in cars.”

Exactly why the numbers dipped is unclear.

“We’re not sure why the numbers shifted this year to last,” said Jim Blanchard, executive director of Auburn Youth Resources, who took part in the count along with Richie and Auburn Food Bank Director Debbie Christian. “I think some of it is pure coincidence. I’m not sure that there’s any kind of provable theory.

“What’s hard to know about that is whether it is policy or is it more services,” Richie admitted. “Sometimes it depends on law enforcement approaches to homeless people. It’s hard to know whether that’s a true decline, or whether people are just moving around.”

Richie said the count is not exhaustive. For instance, it doesn’t include tribal land because the Muckleshoot Tribe has chosen not to participate or the recently annexed West Hill.

We’re not trying to suggest this is an exhaustive, perfect count,” Richie added. “It’s really just an indicator, and as you know, the land mass that makes up our town is huge.”