Arlington County’s homeless population jumped nearly 25 percent last year for the biggest increase in the Washington region, according to preliminary results of a count released Wednesday.
Prince William County saw its homeless numbers rise dramatically, up 14.5 percent, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee.
The District saw its homeless population increase 3 percent.
Overall, the region’s number of homeless increased 2.2 percent, according to the count done on Jan. 28.
But not all counties’ numbers went up. Prince George’s County’s number of homeless decreased 9.5 percent since 2008, and Loudoun County’s number went down 10.6 percent.
The annual count is an effort to monitor and report on the number of people living in shelters, living in transitional or permanent housing, living on the streets, or who are otherwise homeless.
However, the count does not encompass the full number of people living on the streets or in parks, which was a point of concern among the COG board members.
“That is the single biggest challenge because we cannot count the people we cannot see,” said Michael Ferrell, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, chairman of COG Homeless Services and member of the Planning and Coordinating Committee.
Ferrell encouraged board members to continue to support the Housing First Approach, which places people in housing instead of emergency shelters.
Four hundred people were placed in temporary and permanent housing through that program in the District in the past year, and an 18.4 percent increase overall was seen in the numbers of people who were formerly homeless and now live in supportive housing.
A full report and analysis will be presented to the board next month.
