With a hood over his head and mittens to ward off the cold, Terry Cunningham sells the homeless newspaper Real Change in front of the Bartell Drugs store in Ballard and the money he earns helps him survive.

Cunningham is fortunate, after living on the streets for five years, he now has a place to stay, unlike 6,000 others in Seattle who end up seeking shelter each night.

People walking along 22nd Avenue Northwest purchase copies of Real Change from Cunningham for a dollar. Some give him money without taking a newspaper.

"I've been here a long time, enough that they know me. There are a lot of friendly people in Ballard," said Cunningham.

He has noticed an increase in the numbers of people living on Ballard streets.

"It's picking up. They come from downtown to residential areas," said Cunningham.

According, a website for Tent City, the roving campsite for the homeless that has set up in the parking lot of Trinity United Methodist Church twice in the past, there are 4,000 places in the city for homeless people to sleep each night. They include shelters, emergency mats on floors, transitional housing and motel vouchers for families provided by the Department of Social and Health Services.

That leaves the remaining 2,000 people living on the streets, in abandoned buildings or cars. They include women and children.

Robert Olsen is 50 years old. He suffers from lung cancer and arthritis. As a construction worker, Olsen once made good money, but a series of injuries ended his career.

"I had a good trade. Injuries limited my mobility," Olsen said.

Now he is fighting a different battle, trying to convince the Department of Social and Health Services to restore his benefits after getting cut off.

Despite his run of bad luck, Olsen says he never panhandles for money. He lives on the porch of an abandoned house somewhere in Ballard.

It can be difficult for a homeless person to find employment.

"You wake up and you are not clean. You don't sleep well and are tired. When you look for a job, you have a lower self esteem," said Cunningham.

"More and more people are getting run off from downtown. People think the homeless are a worthless piece of crap," Olsen said.

Olsen complains about the city cleaning up homeless areas, sweeping through encampments, taking everything they find and burning it. People have lost a lot of personal possessions, including family photographs he said.

In 2006, Public Health of King County reported 110 homeless deaths. The number is increasing each year.

Long Haired Pete and Ron Robinson both died on Ballard streets this year. In December 2006, a man and woman were found dead inside a camper parked in Ballard.

Back in 2004, Marlowe Sparks died in a bus shelter on Market Street during freezing temperatures.

Ballard gardener Rudy Pantoja, is contracted by businesses from Fremont to Ballard to keep the streets clean.

Pantoja has had many interactions with homeless people, some positive and some not. He has tried to help some of them in the past, offering to take them to a shelter. More recently has been threatened.

Last month Pantoja returned to his job cleaning Market Street, after a six-month absence while recovering from a high ankle sprain.

Now he finds a big difference in the homeless population.

"There are more aggressive individuals than I've seen in Ballard. They dominate the streets. We have Pioneer Square in Ballard and it's growing," said Pantoja.

He has found people urinating in bus stops or sleeping in doorways of local businesses whose owners chase them off.

"I'm not going to let this neighborhood go to hell," said Pantoja who wants the Ballard business district to look nice for the Christmas season.

Pantoja has started to clean up areas under the Ballard Bridge on his own. Problem individuals cuss at him and try to intimidate him.

"We have a drug oriented crowd, hardcore and aggressive. Public safety has to be a number one issue," said Pantoja.

As a resident of Ballard streets, Olsen has seen the transformation.

"It's rough out there. It has always been rough and it's getting rougher," he said.

Olsen says alcoholism and drug use is a big problem with the homeless and that it keeps homeless people down.

People living on the streets can become the victims of violence also. On Nov. 28, three men were camped out near the Ballard locks when three young men attacked them as they were sleeping. The suspects threw the men's backpacks into the water. After running away from the scene, the suspects encountered another homeless man walking nearby and punched him in the face. All four victims were treated for their injuries at Swedish Medical Center.

Some of the homeless live in motor homes, parked on streets with parking restrictions from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Cars can be towed away if they receive 72 hour parking notices. Owners move the vehicles around to avoid penalties.

"For some of these people, that (vehicle) is all they have. Some are working and trying to get out of it. Others are using it for illegal activity," said Pantoja.

Pantoja has seen more elderly people on the streets.

"They are total victims in all of this. They are displaced for some reason," he said.

Olsen said an older homeless woman has been leaving shopping carts full of junk on the street around Northwest 56th and Northwest 57th Streets.

Seattle Police officer Mike Cruzan, a member of the North Precinct's Community Police Team said his department is very conscious of the welfare of the homeless. They use vans to pick up people that have medical issues.

Pantoja tries to connect people, if they are willing, to the Salvation Army or Union Gospel Mission where they can find shelter. Often they refuse.

"Some people can survive in a tent. They don't want to pay rent," said Cunningham.

Homeless people often live in groups. "There's safety in numbers. It gives them a sense of security," said Cunningham.

Cunningham said people come to Ballard because there is a sense of security with churches offering meal programs and the presence of the Ballard Food Bank.

Dean Wong may be contacted at 783.1244 or deanw@robinsonnews.com