The number of displaced people living in Washington, D.C., has reached its lowest level in 17 years, falling nearly 17% since the mayor enacted a plan to combat homelessness in 2015.
Roughly 4,440 people were unhoused in the district as of January 2022, roughly a 14% decline from the year before and the lowest number on record since 2005, according to the mayor’s annual “point-in-time” count released on Thursday. The number is a significant drop from the 8,400 homeless people counted in 2015, which prompted Mayor Muriel Bowser to implement a plan to reduce homelessness in the nation’s capital.
“While we are proud of these results, we know there’s more work to do,” Bowser said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner. “We know that the pandemic has changed the way people experience homelessness, including more people living in encampments, and we need to be responsive to those changes.”
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Family homelessness also saw a 14% decline over the last year, as well as a 12% decline among single adults, Bowser said.
The lower numbers are partly due to the mayor’s Homeward D.C. strategy, initiated in 2016, which aims to provide short-term family shelters throughout the district and help residents in homeless encampments find housing. Family homelessness has decreased 78% since 2016.
“While I am proud of the work we do to connect District residents to affordable housing, I am especially proud of the system by which we welcome people home — it’s a system consistent with our District values in that it is centered in human dignity,” said Laura Green Zeilinger, services director for the D.C. Department of Human Services. “Our residents are deserving of a safe and stable place to call home and we are dedicated to making that vision a reality.”
The point-in-time count, an annual census of homeless people in the district, has elicited criticism from advocates who argue the numbers, which are collected on one day in January each year, don’t include those who are temporarily staying with someone else during cold winter nights. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has also expressed concerns with the city’s strategy, noting it could lead to undercounts, according to a report released in 2020.
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The newly released numbers follow months of unrest among the district’s homeless community, particularly as city officials have reported increased attacks on homeless people, and the National Park Service announced last month it would clear at least two encampments located on federal land, leaving the city government scrambling to find a new place for its inhabitants.
In her most recent budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, Bowser requested that $31 million be allocated toward ending chronic homelessness and providing permanent housing, according to the mayor’s office. The budget also seeks $114.6 million for renovations to homeless shelters in Washington, D.C.
