The number of homeless people in Japan hit a 15-year-low below 5,000, the country's welfare ministry said Friday, attributing the drop to efforts by local governments to help them become independent.

As of January, 4,977 people were living in such places as riverbeds or parks across the nation, down 557 from a year earlier and dipping below 5,000 for the first time since the ministry started a survey on homeless people in 2003.

"Support measures from local governments, such as offering counseling, are believed to have produced certain effects" in bringing down the number of homeless people, a ministry official said.

The survey was conducted with local government officials patrolling their communities to spot people living without a permanent dwelling.

More than 90 percent of the total, or 4,607, were men and 177 were women, while the gender was unknown for the remaining 193 as they were bundled up in clothes. Three-quarters were in central Tokyo's 23 wards and government-designated major cities across the nation.

By prefecture, Tokyo saw the highest number at 1,242, followed by Osaka at 1,110 and Kanagawa, west of Tokyo, at 934. Six prefectures -- Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, Nara, Shimane and Nagasaki -- reported no homeless people.

The ministry noted that the actual number could be higher than 4,977, as the survey was based on observations by officials, thus a homeless person would not have been included if he or she was at a different location when the officials went to parks and train stations to look for people living there.

Free housing for poor LGBTs

Meanwhile, free housing in Tokyo will be offered from November to impoverished sexual minorities, the first such assistance to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, a support group said Friday.

The group plans to offer a temporary home to LGBTs and help them become self-sufficient, as many become homeless after being assaulted by family members or partners or quit their jobs due to workplace harassment.

"In the United States, 40 percent of young, homeless people are said to be LGBTs," said Tsuyoshi Inaba, a member of the organization and a specially appointed associate professor at the Rikkyo University. "I want to raise more awareness (in Japan) about this issue."

The housing scheme, dubbed the "LGBT support house," will begin with just one dwelling in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, which will be offered to LGBTs until they are financially independent. The operational costs will be covered with money raised through crowdfunding.

Although there is already some private-sector accommodation for homeless people, it is difficult for LGBT people to use them because most units have to be shared with people of the same sex.