Rachel Kurzius
Photo by L. Shanley.
As D.C. continues to debate over Mayor Muriel Bowser’s plan to replace D.C. General, a new report shows that homelessness in the city increased by 14 percent in the city even as it decreased in most of the surrounding jurisdictions.
The annual report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments gives a one-night count of homelessness (the count occurred on January 28) in the region.
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
For every 1,000 people in D.C., 12 of them are homeless.
The report says that, while part of the 1,052 additional homeless people in D.C. in 2016 has to do with the lack of affordable housing, there’s also a silver lining—the city’s decision to give year-round access to family shelter meant that families wouldn’t have to wait until winter for help. In other words, they were likely homeless last year, too, but weren’t able to access emergency shelter, which makes it easier to be counted.
This year 1,491 District families are homeless, including 2,722 children. D.C. is the only jurisdiction where family homelessness increased from 2012 to 2016, and it did so by a whopping 46 percent.
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
However, among all of the regions, D.C. had the greatest reduction in chronically homeless single adults, with 92 fewer people than in 2015.
The report states that, “A lack of affordable, permanent housing opportunities remains the most significant and persistent obstacle to ending homelessness in our region.”
