It’s common on the Vineyard to hear of someone couch surfing for a few weeks or struggling through a long transition between rentals. But the number of people without homes on the Vineyard remains elusive.

The annual point-in-time homeless person count aims to provide an estimate for the number of people across the country living in shelters or unconventional housing. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development uses the numbers to determine how to allocate funds for homelessness programs.

The Vineyard count, on Wednesday, Feb. 25, will include people living in tents, vehicles, parks, abandoned buildings and other unconventional places. County manager Martina Thornton will host an organizational meeting Monday, Feb. 23, for anyone interested in volunteering.

“If I can get 10, 15 people, I would be very happy,” Ms. Thornton said this week. “I see that not many people will be willing to go in this weather, but I hope to have some.” The count was originally scheduled for Jan. 28 but was delayed due to the first major snowstorm of the season.

The county’s longtime associate commissioner for the homeless, Connie Teixeira, resigned a few weeks ago, and Ms. Thornton will be leading this year’s count. The Dukes County commission is still looking to fill the vacancy.

The Cape and Islands Regional Network to Address Homelessness, along with the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority and local clergy groups, are helping to organize the count.

State and federal funding will be pursued by the Cape and Islands network, with the Vineyard’s share depending on the number of people reported as being without homes on Wednesday night. Nantucket will also conduct a count, although no homeless people were reported there last year.

The Vineyard reported 29 homeless people last year, down from 119 the year before. Ms. Thornton believed the drop was due to the demolition of a large building in Oak Bluffs where many homeless people had stayed.

David Vigneault, director of the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority, believes the number of under-housed people on the Vineyard was likely higher than reported, since the counts do not include couch surfers, tenants sharing the same space, seniors without essential utilities, and people in extended housing transitions. The Island also lacks a public shelter or similar places where homeless people might gather.

Various reports suggest that homelessness is something of a problem on the Vineyard.

“Every winter and spring, we hear from the different police officers about the jimmied locks on the back doors of second houses in dark neighborhoods or what have you, where in many cases people just make themselves space for the winter and do not abuse the facilities,” Mr. Vigneault said.

“We knew there was quite a population in the state forest coming into the late fall,” he added, noting reports that people had scattered as the weather got colder, and that some shopkeepers have opened their doors to people during storms. He said the immediate housing needs on the Island were separate from the summer shuffle that many year-round residents know well. But he also noted that some of those seasonal transitions were “quite extended,” contributing to the problem of homelessness and under-housing. “We have versions of that throughout the Island over time, especially in the last four or five years with the economy,” he said.

The housing authority has referred people to off-Island shelters during most of the last few winters, and also works with people coming out of shelters and returning to the Island. But Mr. Vigneault said there was not much of a focus on the need for immediate shelter on the Island.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence for the problem as well. In preparation for the count in January, Dukes County administrative assistant Connie Andrade posted on Islanders Talk, a Facebook group with more than 3,600 members, looking for volunteers. Several people commented that they knew people without adequate shelter.

“I know people living in tents,” wrote one user.

“I know of two homeless people right now, and over 10 years that number is closer to 12 people,” wrote another. “That’s just me, and I am not ‘well-connected’ on the Island.”

At least one person questioned the methods of the count. “This is a huge violation,” wrote one user.

“I have been researching issues surrounding poverty for four years now plus. This is not how data is collected. And it is undignified.”

The survey asks for the names or initials of people without conventional housing, along with demographic information such as age, gender, military experience and disability. People may be counted for a few days following the count, as long as they were without housing on the night of Feb. 25.

The county commission discussed the count at its meeting on Feb. 11. Commissioner Christine Todd noted that the Facebook post had attracted a couple of volunteers and she suggested further outreach through the Islanders Talk group.

“Somehow we need to be able to educate, through social media, people who maybe misunderstand the whole point of this,” she said.

Commissioner Gretchen Tucker Underwood suggested offering some sort of incentive for people to share their information.

“If I were a homeless person, and I gave you my information, what benefit am I going to get by having that information out there?” she said.

Ms. Thornton emphasized that the count would be confidential and that people did not need to give their full names. She said the purpose of collecting names or initials was to avoid duplication.

The commissioners also looked toward the future of providing services for the homeless.

The county has a $1,000 fund for putting homeless people up in hotels during emergencies, but there is currently no system in place for utilizing that service, Ms. Thornton said. “If there is a homeless person, who do they call and how do they ask for it? And I think that piece is right now missing.”

County commissioner Tristan Israel noted that the commissioners themselves were inexperienced with issues surrounding the annual count and hoped that Ms. Teixeira’s successor would work to define the process for them. “Then next year, hopefully, we will be in a better, stronger position going into this,” he said.