Volunteers in the early morning hours of Friday counted 71 homeless individuals in Renton, part of the One Night Count of homeless in the county.

Renton’s count by about 70 volunteers showed 13 men, 3 women and 54 individuals whose gender was unknown. One child under 18 also was counted.

The volunteers fanned out across Renton between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Friday morning, part of 130 teams with about 900 volunteers who counted 2,442 homeless individuals countywide. The largest number was 1,753 in Seattle.

The volunteers were not to disturb the individuals, just observe.

In Renton homeless individuals were found in cars and trucks, inside buildings and under raised roadways, in city parks and just walking around.

Susan Camerer, executive director of Vision House, which offers transitional housing for women, children and men, led a team in downtown Renton. Her team included former Gov. Mike Lowry of Renton and Renton Police detective Robert Onishi.

Camerer has participated in the count in Renton for the last four or five years. She noticed a “signficant drop” in her count, with fewer people walking around or camping in vehicles in her area.

What she noticed was that homeless camps where she had counted homeless in the past were “cleaned spotless,” meaning there was no evidence such as blankets or clothes that the homeless lived there.

The co-chairs of the Renton area were Anne Snook with Vision House and Karen Bergsvik, the human services manager for the City of Renton.

The count is coordinated by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness.

“The One Night Count is both an effort to enumerate every person living without a home, and a demonstration of our community’s firm conviction that everyone counts,” the coalition wrote in an e-mail to participants and supporters following the count.

The countywide tally is 317 fewer people than teams counted one year ago, a drop of 11 percent.

“This is the first double-digit drop we have seen in years of counting. If supported by other indicators, it could be a very encouraging sign,” the coalition wrote in the e-mail.

Renton’s homeless number has dropped in the last three years, although many variables could affect for that drop. In 2009, the number was 90 and in 2010 it was 84.

Seven cities participated in the One Night Count. In South King County, Federal Way had the highest number of homeless counted, 124. Kent followed with 108, then Renton and finally Auburn with 45.