The federal government announced Friday that the number of homeless people in Florida has risen four percent. Now more money is one its way to north central florida in the form of federal stimulus dollars to help fight homelessness.

It's part of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. The money is divided among various communities requiring it to be used in three years. Gainesville will receive more than $560,000 and Marion County will get more than $700,000.

"We'll be providing some of those services in the short run," said Jayne Moraski, Executive Director of the Office on Homelessness. "The case management and a referral service and that will transition into the long term, the actual facility that gets built."

The money was supposed to be available at the beginning of July, but it's expected some time this fall.