A nonprofit group in Montgomery County has released some interesting results from a year-long look at homelessness in that area.

From May 2017 to April of this year, street teams from Bethesda Cares made contact with 89 homeless people in Silver Spring.

At that period’s end, 26 of those people had been put into permanent housing. The county recently ended veteran homelessness and is now trying to end chronic homelessness.

Bethesda cares executive director John Mendez says that the real battle to save lives actually takes place in the chambers of the county council as each years budget is crafted.

“It has become a key staple issue for council members like George Leventhal who is phenomenal on homeless issues,” said Mendez. “We’ve had a lot of good support from councilmember Berliner and Craig Rice has been out in the community as well as Marc Ehlrich.”

Of the 89 people detailed in the report, 20 were at least 62 years old. About 73 percent self reported a mental illness, and 52 percent were black.