Last Wednesday night, when the temperature dropped to 22 degrees on Martha’s Vineyard, more than a dozen people were homeless.

A team of volunteers, canvassing the Island as part of the annual point-in-time homeless count, spoke to 15 people, including three families with children, who reported they had no permanent place to call home.

Instead, they found shelter in unheated garages, cars, abandoned buildings and sheds, according to information collected by volunteers last week.

“The problem is out there and we need to figure out how we can provide the services so that they don’t have to sleep in cars and sheds,” said Dukes County manager Martina Thornton, who coordinated the count this year.

The annual count is mandated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and aims to capture a snapshot of the homelessness problem in communities across the country.

Once HUD gathers the census information, they use the numbers to determine how to allocate funds for homelessness programs.

For this year’s count, Ms. Thornton recruited a group of 11 volunteers to identify individuals who were homeless on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

Armed with detailed surveys, which asked for names or initials, along with demographic information and social security numbers, volunteers gathered the information they could, though many participants were reluctant to give identifying information.

A team even searched the state forest and other areas of the Vineyard Wednesday night, but didn’t find anyone sleeping outside, which Ms. Thornton said was a testament to the Island community.

“This community is very generous and people help each other out,” Ms. Thornton said.

And while counts conducted over the past three years have identified a substantial homeless population, the Island has no homeless shelter and no dedicated services to support that population. Last year, the point-in-time count identified 29 homeless people on the Vineyard. In 2013, the count included 119 individuals, many of whom were living in an abandoned building in Oak Bluffs.

Point-in-time counts are conducted during the same week statewide, but Ms. Thornton doesn’t think winter, when the problem is largely hidden from view, is the best time to count the homeless of Martha’s Vineyard.

“I don’t think the count is really telling of what our homeless situation is on the Vineyard,” she said.

Instead, she said a summer census might provide the county with more valuable data. In the summer, affordable living arrangements are scarce, and more people may sleep outside.

Each year, agencies on Cape Cod receive federal funding to help folks who are suffering from homelessness.

This year, HUD awarded $1.69 million for permanent housing and other services on the Cape and Islands.

And while Islanders in need are eligible for that funding, that help is currently a boat ride away.

Unlike the Cape, the Island lacks a dedicated agency to administer the voucher funds and support individuals with the underlying issues of homelessness.

“We need people on the Vineyard identifying people who need the resources,” said Paula Schnepp, coordinator of the Cape & Islands Regional Network to Address Homelessness, in a telephone call this week.

There are efforts in place to change that.

In late March, a representative from the Community Action Committee of Cape Cod & Islands Inc. will meet with the Dukes County Commission to discuss expanding services here.

“I think we are moving in the right direction,” Ms. Schnepp said.

Dukes County has a fund set up with $1,000 which can be used for temporary emergency lodging in Island. In the past, the associate commissioner for the homeless administered that fund, and coordinated emergency housing for folks in need.

But the county’s longtime associate commissioner, Constance Teixeira, resigned in January.

Ms. Thornton is looking for another volunteer to replace her.

“It’s a big task, but the right person will show up,” she said.

Island faith communities also provide hotel vouchers, and have been meeting regularly to explore how they can better help this population.

Rise Terney, one of the homeless count volunteers, said she wishes more Islanders were aware of the problem.

“I think it needs to be more widely known,” she said. “We are not very big and even if there are only four people, that should not be happening.”