Volunteers survey the homeless in San Fernando Valley

Armed with flashlights and clipboards, dozens of volunteers fanned out before dawn Monday to find the most vulnerable people living on the streets of North Hollywood and Sun Valley.

The effort organized by the San Fernando Valley Homeless Coalition, a network of service providers, aims to help at least 75 people into stable housing and find them the services they need to stay off the streets.

North Hollywood and Sun Valley are among more than 90 communities nationwide to join the 100,000 Homes campaign, an effort to house 100,000 homeless people by 2013.

Using a model developed by the campaign, volunteers are surveying the homeless three nights this week about their health, alcohol or drug use and other issues that influence how likely they are to die if left on the streets. The information will be used to prioritize the most vulnerable for permanent housing as well as for counseling, treatment and other services.

“Once you start learning about somebody and they are more than a body, they are a name, then you have the opportunity to do something to get them off the streets,” said John Horn, co-chair of the San Fernando Valley Homeless Coalition.