After two years of homelessness increasing in D.C., it decreased by 9% in 2024, according to the 25th annual Point-In-Time (PIT) Count. But housing advocates say the true scope of homelessness is higher than reported, and the progress the city has made is in jeopardy with few new investments for homeless services in the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.
The annual PIT Count results were released on May 14, two weeks before D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser shared her fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, which called for million-dollar budget cuts to many homeless services, homeless prevention services, and the Department of Human Services as a whole. These cuts could undermine any progress the city made towards decreasing homelessness in the last year, service providers said, as fewer people would be able to access programs that can help them exit homelessness.
The 2025 PIT Count, conducted in January, found 5,138 people were experiencing homelessness on one night in the District, down from 5,616 people in 2024, according to a report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). While the number of people counted this year was a decrease from 2024, it comes after two years of increases, and suggests more people are experiencing homelessness now than were in 2021 through 2023…