The New York Times reports this morning that the number of people who were found homeless and outside during NYC’s One Night Count in January rose by 34% over 2009. Officials blame the harsh and tenacious recession.

Other cities around the country are yet to report their One Night Count results — excepting Seattle/King County, which saw a reduction this year of about 75 people. Locally, there’s been a lot of effort to create short- and long-term housing so people can escape homelessness, which probably explains the divergence between the cities. For example, here more than 1,000 units of permanent housing have come on-line in recent years, or will soon.

What do you think: is that a sufficient explanation for the positive trend in the Seattle area? Or are other things at work?