(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the District’s Department of Human Services (DHS) shared the results of the 2025 Point-In-Time (PIT) Count, the annual census of individuals experiencing homelessness. This year’s count took place on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, and showed an overall 9% decrease from 2024, including an 18.1% decrease among families and an 4.5% decrease among unaccompanied individuals. This year’s total count is 19% percent lower than the count in 2020, the last PIT recorded before the COVID-19 public health emergency.
“I am incredibly grateful for the teams that are working every day to ensure we are able to not only provide shelter to neighbors who need it, but also help them move into – and thrive – in permanent housing,” said Mayor Bowser. “For more than a decade, we have been transforming our systems so that they are more effective and so that they meet the needs of people in our city. This is challenging but important work. We know that when we have the right investments, the right policies, and the right people in place, we can drive down homelessness and get our neighbors into safe and stable housing.”
The count also showed a decrease in homelessness among Transition Age Youth, which represents young adults ages 18 to 24. There was a 10.5% decrease among individual transition age youth and a 35.8% decrease among transition age youth-headed families.
“These results show a positive change in course following increases in homelessness over the past two years,” said DHS Interim Director A.D. Rachel Pierre. “While there is more work to be done, this year’s PIT count is a clear indicator that the District’s investments – especially over the last year – are moving the needle in the right direction. We are committed to staying the course and continuing to focus on solutions that emphasize homelessness prevention and diversion, supportive case management, and bridging the gap from temporary shelter to permanent housing.”
Since last year’s PIT count, the District has worked hard to deepen investment and focus on programs that work while launching new, innovative initiatives that continue to meet the needs of neighbors experiencing homelessness. These efforts have been key drivers of this year’s positive trend, and they include:
- Project Reconnect: The District deploys staff to shelters, day centers, and with outreach teams to assist individuals newly experiencing homelessness or who are currently facing housing crises by providing housing counseling and flexible funding to either divert individuals from the homeless services system or facilitate a rapid exit to stable housing. In FY 2024, Project Reconnect successfully diverted nearly 400 individuals from entering homelessness.
- Front Door Navigation Tool: DHS launched a new data-powered tool in coordination with the Homeless Services Hotline to increase opportunities for connection to diversion assistance and resources in a timelier fashion. Since its launch, Front Door Navigation has connected more than 150 referrals to Project Reconnect.
- Transforming Our Shelter System: The District continued its work to improve and expand its shelter system, including the opening of The Aston non-congregate bridge housing program to provide 100 new shelter beds for unsheltered, adult-only families (without minors) and those who cannot be served effectively in low barrier shelters. The District will open a second non-congregate bridge housing program in 2025.
- Targeting Youth Homelessness: The District has been a national leader in building a comprehensive system to address and prevent youth homelessness. Through programs focused on homelessness prevention, intervention, and transitional and permanent housing, the District provided vital, targeted services to hundreds of Transition Age Youth (ages 18 to 24) over the last year – including the addition of daily transportation services through the District’s shelter hotline and increasing the geographic footprint of youth-focused street outreach services.
- Permanent Housing: The District supported more than 900 individuals and families to lease up with permanent housing vouchers in FY 2024 and leveraged Medicaid funding to provide supportive services to nearly 9,000 households. So far, in FY 2025, over 550 individuals and families have leased up with permanent housing vouchers.
- Peer Case Management Institute (Winner of the Cafritz Team Award): DHS graduated its first cohort from the Peer Case Management Institute, a partnership with Howard University that trains District residents with lived experience of homelessness to become qualified case managers in the Homeless Services System. More than half of the first cohort has been employed as case managers in the Homeless Services System; the second cohort is set to graduate in June 2025.
The District’s results were among the strongest in the region. Four of the eight continuums of care that participate in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) saw an increase in their numbers this year, with four others (including the District) seeing varying degrees of decrease. While this points to the positive impact of the District’s targeted investments in strategic and innovative services, it also underscores the growing need of residents in the local region and the importance of regional collaboration.
The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP) conducted the PIT count on behalf of the District. The count is a requirement for all jurisdictions receiving federal homeless assistance funding. This single-day enumeration of the homeless services continuum of care provides an opportunity to identify gaps in the current portfolio of services and informs future program planning.
Data from the District will be included in a regional analysis and annual report on homelessness by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee, presented to the COG Board of Directors on May 14. Concerned by the lack of regional data available, COG undertook the first effort to produce a Point-in-Time count of homeless adults and children in metropolitan Washington in 2001. More information will be available at mwcog.org/homelessnessreport.
Mayor Bowser X: @MayorBowser
Mayor Bowser Instagram: @Mayor_Bowser
Mayor Bowser Facebook: facebook.com/MayorMurielBowser
Mayor Bowser YouTube: https://www.bit.ly/eomvideos