About Homelessness
Homelessness today is a serious epidemic. It affects men, women and children of all races and backgrounds. It is a focus issue for the District of Columbia.
In the DC metro region (or nationwide as indicated):
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Nearly half (47%) of the area's homeless are families. (Families make up nearly 4600 of the 11,752 people who are homeless.)
Children are a quarter of the homeless.
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In several Northern Virginia communities, most of the homeless are in fact families – Loudoun (71.2%), Fairfax County/City & Falls Church (59.5%) and Prince William (63.5%).
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Homelessness is a growing problem in our region – up 6.9 % in recent years. In Loudoun County, Virginia – where the median household income is $99,000 – homelessness has almost doubled.
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Nationwide, 1/3 of homeless adults with families are employed. In several counties in the DC metro region (Montgomery, Fairfax, Prince George's & Prince William), at least 60% of homeless adults with families work – double the national average. That figure is as high as 65.6% in Fairfax County/City of Falls Church.
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Many of the area's homeless work but can't afford to buy or rent homes in the area. Nationwide, a family has to make $17.32 an hour to afford housing at the national fair market rent. That amount is much greater ($25.46) in higher-cost rental markets like Washington, DC.
Nationwide, a full-time minimum wage worker earns only one-third of what he or she needs to rent a modest apartment.
Sources:
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and National Alliance to End Homelessness.
http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/pub-documents/8ldbXg20080515134949.pdf
National Low Income Housing Coalition – Out of Reach 2007-2008
http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008/
http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008/data.cfm?getstate=on&getmsa=on&msa=1261&state=DC
http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008/data.cfm?getstate=on&getcounty=on&county=2837&state=VA