My guess is that he hasn't decided whether to go for the biggest number because that shows the seriousness of the problem, or the smaller number to show that the problem can be solved.

A few days ago, when I contrasted the Eugene 'official' 3,000 local figure with Portland's 'official' homeless figure of 4,000 and suggested we were carrying more than our 'fair share' of homeless, his response was that these once-a-year counts that drive how much Federal money is allocated for homeless efforts were unreliable and didn't account for all of his pets.

Let's see how it goes!