Homelessness in both the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County have decreased significantly in the past several years, newly released data shows.
Alexandria City and Fairfax County both conducted point-in-time homelessness surveys in January and released the resulting data this month.
While homelessness has decreased by more than 45 percent in both Alexandria City (since 2011) and Fairfax County (since 2008), both regions experienced a slight uptick in homelessness from 2017 to 2018.
In Alexandria City, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness dropped from 416 in 2011 to 226 in 2018, a decrease of 45.6 percent in 7 years.
The 2018 Alexandria count showed a continued downward trend in the number individuals in families who are experiencing homelessness. The number of single people who are homeless increased from 120 in 2017 to 146 in 2018.
The City’s Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness, which released the data, oversees and coordinates homelessness prevention services and supportive services to those who are experiencing homelessness.
2018 Fairfax County data, released by the County’s Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, revealed homelessness is down 46.2 percent since a decade ago, dropping from 1,835 people in 2008 to 987 this year. County government officials credit “a collaborative effort by our county government, nonprofits and faith organizations” for reducing homelessness. The most significant decrease in Fairfax County was in the number of homeless people in families, which dropped by more than 55.2 percent in the past decade.
There was a slight increase from 2017 to 2018 (an increase of 23 people), according to Fairfax County data. Twelve of those people were under the age of 18.
The decrease in the number of homeless individuals and families in Fairfax County is due in part to an “emphasis on homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing, as well as a unified approach to homeless services with the county’s nonprofit and community partners,” according to Dean Klein, director of the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness. (Listen to a podcast with Klein about Fairfax County’s efforts to reduce homelessness here on Soundcloud.)
Fairfax County noted five contributing factors to the increase in homelessness in 2018, including the increased availability of emergency shelter and transitional housing for those experiencing domestic violence. Other reasons included a decrease or shortage of housing options and resources, a lack of new federal Department of Housing and Urban Development funds and fewer federally funded housing vouchers for Housing Choice and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing.
“The Point in Time Count is made following federal guidelines and covers people who are literally homeless – those who are in shelters, in time-limited transitional housing programs or unsheltered and living on the street,” Fairfax County’s website explained.
