Homelessness Down In 2022 Fairfax County Point-In-Time Count

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — The annual point-in-time count showed a decline in people experiencing homelessness in Fairfax County and the DC region as a whole.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments report provides a one-night snapshot of homelessness in the region. The point-in-time count documents the number of homeless people as of Jan. 26, 2022 in DC area localities, including people living in shelters, time-limited transitional housing programs and unsheltered people on the streets.

During the point-in-time count, 1,191 people in Fairfax County were experiencing homelessness, down 3 percent from 2021. It's the first decrease since the 2016 point-in-time count. Fairfax County's recent point-in-time counts included 987 in 2018, 1,034 in 2019, 1,041 in 2020 and 1,222 in 2021.

"In spite of the health crisis and economic challenges which have weighed the heaviest upon our most vulnerable residents, we are pleased to observe meaningful progress in our fight to prevent and end homelessness," said Tom Barnett, deputy director of the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, in a statement. "This achievement would not have been possible without the dedicated support and tenacious spirit of our community of partners. There is still plenty of work ahead, and we welcome and encourage the continued contributions of all who wish to take part in the effort to ensure that everyone has access to housing in our Fairfax County community."

Among subgroups, single adults experiencing homelessness fell by 15 percent from 2021 to 2022. A county government news release attributed the decline to increasing rapid rehousing resources through federal CARES Act funding.

There were a total of 57 people identified as unsheltered in 2022, down 34 percent since 2018. The number of chronically homelessness adults fell from 327 to 282 adults, while the number identified as veterans fell from 48 to 32. The number of transition aged youth (ages 18 to 24) remained the same at 91.

One group that increased were survivors of domestic violence. In 2022, there were 115 households currently fleeing domestic violence and 220 with a history of domestic violence. That's up from 97 households fleeing domestic violence and 183 households with a history of domestic violence in 2021.

The county noted 30 of the people experiencing homelessness in 2022 are aged 70 and above, including one 96-year-old in an emergency shelter. On a regional level, there were 982 older adults in the count, including 118 unsheltered people.

Among racial groups, the county continues to see a disproportionate number of homeless people identified as Black or African American. While Fairfax County's population is 10 percent Black or African American, but 50 percent of people in the point-in-time count were Black or African American. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments noted the disproportionate number of homeless Black or African American people applied to all participating localities except Loudoun and Frederick counties.

The report included nine participating localities: the City of Alexandria, Arlington County, District of Columbia, Fairfax County, Frederick County, Loudoun County, Montgomery County, Prince George's County and Prince William County. The 7,605 people experiencing homelessness in the 2022 county was the lowest number in decades, according to the Council of Governments report. The number is down 8 percent from 8,309 people in 2021.

"And while the region should celebrate how far we’ve come on homelessness, we will need to increase the number of affordable and available permanent housing opportunities for the lowest income households to continue that progress," said Elisabeth Young, co-chair of the Council of Governments' Homeless Services Committee and senior analyst at the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness.

See the full 2022 point-in-time count here.