An annual conference on homelessness will be held in Hays this week.

About 200 people are expected to attend the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition conference from Wednesday to Friday.

Diane Etzel-Wise, the coalition’s executive director, says Hays was chosen to host the conference because homelessness exists in every part of the state.

She says a count in January 2009 found that at least 1,800 people were homeless on any given night in Kansas.

The Hays Daily News reports that speakers at the conference will include Michael German and Brian Fitzmaurice with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.