Each year in January, a census is done to see how many people are experiencing homelessness. This year, D.C. said the results show progress in the nation’s capital.
The District has seen a 9% decrease since last year’s count, with a total of 5,138 people experiencing homelessness.
“We’re excited that we’re moving in the right direction,” said Rachel Pierre, interim director of the D.C. Department of Human Services.
The decrease comes after D.C. saw the numbers ticking up since 2022, but remains down from the highs seen before the pandemic of almost 7,000 homeless people in 2018 and 2019. In 2022, the numbers dropped to a low of 4,410, which Pierre said was linked to the extra assistance seen during the pandemic.
“It went down a few years because of all the provisions that the federal government and the District ultimately put to kind of help with the eviction moratorium and support with rental assistance,” she said.
Some of those programs have since ended, leading to the numbers readjusting, according to Pierre.
In 2025, D.C. has also seen decreases in other key areas, among them, an 18.1% decrease in homeless families; and a 35% decrease in families in which the head of the family is between 18-24 years old.
The results also showed a 4.5% decrease in single individuals; 86 people living by themselves aged 18-24 were also counted.
While the numbers show there is a lot of work to do to end homelessness, the District credited the decline to services including Project Reconnect, which helps newly homeless individuals get back into permanent housing. It’s a program the city said helped 400 people last year.
Other programs targeted improving and adding beds to the city’s shelters, providing services that helped people keep jobs and stay in their current homes and work that specifically targeted younger people experiencing homelessness with help getting into permanent housing.
“We work very hard to try to have targeted interventions for young people that are different than the ones that we do for adults,” Pierre said.
There has also been success in a new program that’s in cooperation with Howard University, which trains people who have experienced homelessness in the past to become case workers who help those who are currently homeless.
“There’s nothing like somebody who’s gone through something to really use that experience then help the next person,” Pierre said. “Residents with lived experience … are in a space and they provide advocacy and policy recommendation.”
According to the city, D.C. was among four of the eight regional cities and counties that participate in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ count which. COG is expected to release the counts from across the region on Wednesday.
The count came before President Donald Trump ordered homeless encampments near the White House and State Department be cleared out.
Pierre said the closures were not new for the city, as camps were closed last year as well.
“We really believe that residents are better served in housing,” Pierre said.
The struggle is having enough housing to help those in need, which is something, she said, the city continues to work on.
“We’re really working with the housing authority also to make sure that folks who are eligible for a Section 8 or local rent supplement program are able to connect to those resources,” she said.
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