Daniel and Tracy Randazzo have lived on the streets of Los Banos for years.</p><p>Daniel, an Arizona native with a college degree, moved to Los Banos to help his mother, who was dying of cancer. After his mom died, his home went into foreclosure.</p><p>The Randazzos live a tough life, sleeping near a vacated building that used to house Hollywood Video and relying on the kindness of strangers for food and money, only to often receive scorn.</p><p>"People are mean to the homeless. I've been spit on, the police have given us tickets; the fast food places will throw out perfectly good food and pour bleach on it so we can't have it," Randazzo said.</p><p>He said one day he found his wife crying and wet from being hit with an open Gatorade bottle thrown by teenagers driving by.</p><p>Tracy Randazzo said even people who try to help them often show their contempt.</p><p>"They'll give you money and pull away. They don't want to touch you or be around you."</p><p>Being homeless puts the Randazzos among the demographic surveyed by several Merced County residents Tuesday in an effort to gauge the size of its population.</p><p>Continuum of Care is a group of government agencies, nonprofits and faith-based organizations that work to prevent and reduce homelessness. The group counted about 280 people in Los Banos, Merced, Atwater and Livingston. Gustine, Dos Palos and the county's unincorporated areas weren't included in the count. Also, one area within Merced city limits was scheduled to be re-counted this week because of duplication, said Lori Flanders, public information officer with the Merced County Association of Governments.</p><p>The Rev. Steve Hammond was one of three volunteers conducting Los Banos' count. He said there are 75 homeless people in Los Banos, 60 men and 15 women.</p><p>"If there's any good news in that it's that we counted no children among the homeless in Los Banos," Hammond said.</p><p>There were 68 homeless people in Los Banos in 2011. Hammond said his hope is that the increased numbers lead to more dollars being directed toward Los Banos to assist the homeless.</p><p>There has also been a rise in the homeless population countywide. Last year, there were 277 homeless people counted in Merced, Los Banos, Atwater and Livingston. That number was up from the 2010 count of 154, but that count didn't include Livingston.</p><p>Flanders said it wasn't mandatory to conduct the count this year, but the Continuum of Care does it every year. She said the group gets about $575,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.</p><p>The 40 volunteers also did one-on-one surveys with the homeless at various sites in Merced on Thursday. The surveys -- at the Merced D Street Shelter, Rescue Mission and The Salvation Army -- focused on the subpopulation of homeless and asked questions about their range of disabilities.</p><p>Tuesday's counters included homeless advocates, the homeless and others.</p><p>"They made it very easy for us and the group to identify the key locations. So I'd say it required more planning but wasn't necessarily harder," Flanders said in an email.</p><p>The group conducted a separate "sheltered" tally, which counted how many beds were occupied in homeless shelters Monday night. Flanders said it will take a few days to calculate final results.</p><p>The Merced Sun-Star contributed to this report.