LITTLE ROCK—The number of homeless people living on the streets and shelters dropped dramatically last year, according to a Department of Housing and Urban Development report released this week.

Officials attributed the plunge to thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who came to Arkansas after the storm but have since found housing.

The report counted 3,836 homeless people in Arkansas during a count in January 2007. A year earlier, that number was 16,665—which included more than 11,000 Katrina evacuees who were counted as homeless.

Nationally, the number of homeless people dropped about 12 percent between 2005 and 2007.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development credited the national decline to programs that offer permanent housing and support services for the disabled homeless.