The Numbers Are In: Regional Homelessness Down to 11,623 People

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments released its annual report analyzing on number of homeless people living in the D.C. metro area on a single night of the year (the Point-in-Time count). This count is crucial for service providers, lawmakers and advocacy groups to better understand the changing needs of the homeless community.

As demographics change, needs change. The major focus of the report was on families, defined as households with children. Family homelessness has increased because it is still extremely hard to find affordable housing, concluded the report.

New this year is a specific category for Transition-Age-Youths, ages 18-25,  required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The median age of adults in homeless families is 25, causing considerable overlap between these two categories.

These young parents struggle with finding living-wage jobs. As rent continues to increase and affordable housing remains scarce, it is difficult for these families to find stable housing.

It can be difficult to accurately count homeless youths. They often do not stay where they can be easily found by volunteers, such as in shelters. Even when found, homeless youths often will not admit to being homeless.

The Point-in-Time count also does not account for people who are “doubling up” or sleeping on the couches or floors of friends and family. Many homeless youths are fleeing abuse or fear they may be placed in foster care. These factors make it hard for youth to receive support from advocacy groups.

Specific subpopulations of the homeless community, such as chronically homeless people and veterans, have received targeted resources for re-housing in the past year and seen success. The D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ new 5-year plan to end homelessness aims to end veteran homelessness in the District  this year, and chronic homelessness by the end of 2017.

Mayor Bowser’s proposed budget for the District included a .25 percent sales tax increase. This tax increase was debated by the D.C. Council’s Committee on Finance and Revenue, with Councilmember Elissa Silverman supporting the tax. The proposal would raise sales tax from 5.75 percent to 6 percent, which is the same as neighboring counties in Virginia and Maryland and therefore not a competitive disadvantage economically. The tax would provide more revenue for homeless services, include emergency shelters and affordable housing.

“If we don’t deal with the housing situation now, we’ll pay more in the future,” Councilmember Silverman explained. “I support a housing-first approach. In moving away from that approach, the city hosts families at DC General and in motels, both of which work out to costing the city about $150 a night. If you multiply that out to a stay of a month, it’s about $4500 per family, which is the cost of a pretty expensive apartment in the city. It’s just not cost-effective.”

The councilmember went on to state, “Yes, we have to put money in now, but it’s a good return on investment. If we can shelter our families for paying a slightly increased sales tax, I think that’s a good return on investment.”


Issues |Education|Youth


Region |Washington DC

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