WORCESTER, Mass. - Central Massachusetts is seeing a significant increase in the population of homeless people as the region prepares for the summer.

The Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance presented its Point-in-Time homeless count for Worcester County Wednesday. Data from the nonprofit shows there are more than 3,000 homeless individuals in the area. It's a 93% increase over the last two years.

More than 2,300 people without a home have children.

The numbers are a concern for community leaders in the area.

"If we continue to put the resources into shelter, that's all we're going to have," said CMHA executive director Leah Bradley. "So really thinking about what's the prevention resources that we need and then what are the housing resources that we need. And, you know, I don't think the state can't fix this. You know, there's also the market that needs to come into play. The state can help, but there's the you know, there's they have no control over the interest rates, no control over the housing prices themselves. So really thinking about what does all of that look like as a multi-pronged approach?"

The housing alliance says a household would need an annual income of more than $86,000 to sustain rent.

Worcester currently has the region's largest number of unsheltered homeless people with 120. Fitchburg and Sturbridge round out the top three communities.