Anyone spending time in the City's Haight, Mission or Financial districts has seen them. Often -- but not always -- dirtied, bearded or rank, the homeless population sprinkled throughout the city has risen and fallen over the years. But Mayor Newsom is still on a mission to help rid the streets of these political eyesores.

The plan? Action.

How? Money.

A recently published report states that the number of homeless people living in San Francisco has ever-slightly increased in the last year, but the report is thought by some to be inaccurate.

"All I know is that we gave it our best, and at the end I didn't feel at all confident that we reported a correct number," Ashley Harrell said, after voluntarily counting homeless-looking people for the Homeless Count Report, released April 4. "The bottom line is that the city has to do it for funding."

She concluded that the process was purely political, completed to secure $18 million in federal McKinney-Vento funds that go to about 50 homeless programs in San Francisco.

The San Francisco Human Services Agency bi-annually attempts to count the homeless population by sending volunteers like Harrell to assigned sections of the city to record the number of people that they believe to be homeless.

The count, which took place on the evening of Jan. 27 this year, is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to receive the federal funding. Politicians say that the count is not used to determine actual funding levels.

Aside from searching for those who call Golden Gate Park or a downtown stoop home, the Homeless Count tallied people currently dwelling in emergency shelters, treatment and stabilization centers, hospitals and jail.

According to the report, the number of homeless people rose to 6,514 from 6,377 in 2007. The count concluded, however, that the number of homeless on the streets dropped from 2,771 in 2007 to 2,709 today.

"We were to automatically count people sleeping outside, vehicles with covered windows and makeshift structures such as tents and boxes," Harrell wrote on SF Weekly's blog in January. "Under no circumstances were we to actually ask a person whether or not they lived in a home."

In defense of the policy, Daryl Higashi, housing finance director, said that a follow-up survey of 500 homeless people would provide the additional information needed and that asking a person if he or her was actually homeless would disturb his or her privacy.

The federal definition of homelessness is anyone who "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence," lives in a shelter other temporary institutionalized residence and uses "a public or private place not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings."

Mayor Newsom has attempted to eliminate the city's homelessness since taking office, and has used the issue as a centerpiece of his political career.

"Having an accurate count of our homeless community is essential in determining the effectiveness of our homeless outreach efforts," Newsom said of the report in a statement. "We've got a long way to go toward ending chronic homelessness in San Francisco, but this count will help us to continue in the right direction."

Homeless advocates agree that homelessness in San Francisco needs more attention. The Medical Examiner's office reported that 103 people died in San Francisco without a known address in 2004. The Coalition on Homelessness said that 167,074 citations were given out for homelessness between 1993 and 2005.

But a better way to determine the amount of Washington money needed to fight homelessness in San Francisco must be found, Harrell thinks.

"The homeless count is a meaningless charade," she said. "Anybody who participated--who is not in denial or incredibly stupid--knows that."