NEW YORK, NY April 24, 2006 —The city's fourth annual street homeless count shows a 13 percent drop compared to last year, but in some areas the number of homeless increased. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

The city's estimate shows just over 3800 inviduals currently live on city streets, that's down from nearly 4400 in 2005. While the overall number of the street homeless is down, Brooklyn saw a 31 percent increase and the number of homeless who sleep on subways shot up by more than 40 percent.

In contrast fewer homeless people were found in Queens and Manhattan compared to last year. The city says a better economy and a focus on placing homeless individuals in permanent housing accounts for the overall decline.

Some homeless advocates continue to call the count flawed because volunteers who search for the homeless do not look in more remote places such as abandoned buildings and cars.