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Early in the evening on January 29, hundreds of people filed into a small assembly room at the San Francisco Health Department, psyched for the night’s adventure: They were volunteers for the city’s annual “point in time” homeless count, which was taking place simultaneously in cities across the United States.

Cities are required to participate in the count, which is based on criteria provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The data is used by legislators, government agencies, city officials, nonprofits—anyone who is interested, really—to evaluate strategies intended to curb homelessness. With deadlines approaching for the Obama Administration’s goal of ending chronic and veteran homelessness by the end of 2015—this year’s results would be particularly important.

The administration even dispatched officials to rally the troops—San Francisco got White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. “Tonight in Orlando, Tucson, Los Angeles—everybody is going out to do exactly the same thing you are,” he told the volunteers. “It is a huge service to the country because you are going to give us the data that policymakers, academics, the president, and the first lady are going to use to hold us to account.”

McDonough chose San Francisco, he said, in part because it has embraced the president’s initiatives and done a good job at reducing its chronic, child, and veteran homeless populations. It would be up to this crowd to find out how much work was still needed.

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How Does a City Count Its Homeless? I Tagged Along to Find Out