Though down by more than half compared to a decade ago, Arlington’s homeless total rose from 2021 to 2022, according to new data.
“There’s work to do,” said Arlington County Board member Matt de Ferranti, parsing the new data during the May 17 board meeting.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ annual point-in-time homeless count (conducted Jan. 26 with data recently released) revealed a total of 182 people living in shelters and on the streets in Arlington, up 6 percent from 171 a year before. That compares to a regionwide decline of 8 percent from a year before, led by a large drop in the District of Columbia.
The annual count looks at nine jurisdictions across the region and totaled 7,605 people experiencing homelessness, down from 8,309 a year before. About 58 percent of them were in the District of Columbia, down from 62 percent a year before.
In Arlington, the number of people counted in shelters stood at 162, up from 144, and the number of those on the streets declined from 27 to 20.
While well down from the 479 people in the 2013 count, the 2021-to-2022 increase proves that “the picture of homelessness is complex,” County Board Chairman Katie Cristol said.