Pinellas homeless count under way

   Some 200 volunteers are fanning out across Pinellas County today to search for and count homeless men, women and children. Unlike past years, when rainy weather made it more difficult to find people as they sheltered themselves in hard-to find spots, today's volunteers are easily locating and counting homeless people for the annual census, said Sarah K. Snyder, executive director of the Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless.

   Last year's survey showed about 5,195 people were homeless on any given day in the county, an increase of 10.5-percent over the previous year. Snyder expects another increase this year, because of high housing costs and tough economic times.

   "We're getting people losing housing that certainly did not expect to lose housing,'' Snyder said.

--Curtis Krueger, Times staff writer