Chris Carr poked his head out from a 5-to-6 foot hole in the ground – his makeshift bedroom covered with branches, plywood and one blanket.

He appeared to have burrowed inside his Sunday night campsite.

But in rising to the surface, he lent his name to a list of hundreds of people – quite possibly more – living homeless right now in El Paso County.

On Monday, the annual Point in Time homeless count kicked off, seeking to offer the most accurate snapshot of homelessness in El Paso County.

The count – held every year in late January – is federally mandated for the Pikes Peak Continuum of Care to receive millions of dollars in federal grants to move people off the streets and into more permanent housing.

It comes amid a growing consensus by nonprofit leaders and advocates that homelessness appears to be on the rise. While quantifying that observation can be painstakingly difficult, it’s nevertheless important.

“It’s hard to respond to the issue of homelessness without having accurate data about how many people are actually out here,” said Andrew Phelps, the city’s homelessness prevention and response coordinator.

Last year, 1,415 people were found to be homeless. Of that total, 457 were living unsheltered in tents or sleeping bags.

This year’s results will be reported in April or May, said Eva Nunes, the Pikes Peak United Way’s director of community information systems.

One thing is certain: The results will undercount the county’s true homeless population. Some people choose not to participate, while others prefer lives of isolation and keep their campsites hidden.

To find as many people as possible, about 150 volunteers fanned out to about 50 locations across El Paso County where people experiencing homelessness are known to visit or live.

Many visited the Marian House Soup Kitchen, while Blackbird Outreach dispatched teams to camps along Fountain Creek south of downtown. Others went to Fountain – an area long under-counted, Nunes said.

“This is the one time every year that we go out and really reach out to those folks to see what their situation looks like,” Nunes said.

Meanwhile, Phelps and the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team visited each tent visible along the Pikes Peak Greenway from Cimarron Street on north, and along an old rail line leading east.

During one three-hour stretch, 11 people agreed to be surveyed, and one person declined to participate.

Each questionnaire centered around one question: Where had they slept Sunday night?

Carr, 52, answered in a somber, barely-audible tone.

Only last night did he find this hole, dug into a hillside a quarter-mile north of the Bon shopping center. In it were two dirty blue mattresses and some trash.

His answers never stretched more than a few words, even as he recalled having lived on the streets for years.

And within minutes, he dropped back out of view.