Survey volunteers and outreach workers, like the woman in the blue vest, interview people experiencing homelessness during the Point-in-Time Count.
The number of people experiencing homelessness increased in Fairfax County by 3 percent to 1,322 (increase of 44 individuals) on Jan. 22, 2025, compared to 1,278 on Jan. 24, 2024, according to the recent report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). The Washington area jurisdictions' number of individuals experiencing homelessness decreased by one percent from their 2024 enumeration, shrinking by "115 persons from 2024," reports COG.
On May 14, COG released its "Homelessness in Metropolitan Washington, Results and Analysis from the 2025 Point-in-Time Count of Persons Experiencing Homelessness," prepared by the Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee. Fairfax County is one of the four jurisdictions that recorded increases in their literal homelessness count, sheltered and unsheltered, within eight metropolitan Washington area jurisdictions of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, during the 2025 Point-in-Time Count of Persons Experiencing Homelessness.
Fairfax County recorded the most significant one-year increase in the category of chronically homeless people, rising from 184 in 2024 to 248 in 2025 after two consecutive years of decline.
On two days in late January 2025, COG's Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee conducted its regional point-in-time count, providing a snapshot within its eight metropolitan Washington area jurisdictions of residents experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. Volunteers and others conducted the count on two nights, Jan. 22 and Jan. 29. Inauguration-related security concerns this year caused the unusual two-night, rather than one-night, count.
COG reported that across its eight jurisdictions, including Fairfax County, "Eighty-six percent of people experiencing homelessness were sheltered those two nights in their respective jurisdictions."
Key findings reported by Fairfax County include persistence of racial disparity, with 48 percent of those experiencing homelessness identified as Black, African American, or African. Nearly one-third of adults were experiencing chronic homelessness, with 263 people identified as experiencing it. And 77 households were actively fleeing domestic violence, an increase from 59 the previous year.
"More people were using shelters the night we were conducting the count,” said Tom Barnett, Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development Deputy Director, Office to Prevent and End Homelessness. “It is clear that our region has not yet recovered from the pandemic, which dramatically increased homelessness counts in 2021."
Fairfax County recorded a notable decline in unsheltered single adults from 2024 to 2025; regionwide, the number of unsheltered single adults decreased by 10 percent from 2024 to 2025, a drop of 148 individuals. Additionally, Fairfax County's count of veterans experiencing homelessness recorded the most significant reduction between 2021 and 2025, with 22 fewer veterans counted.
"The region has increased the total number of persons who are permanently housed and no longer experiencing homelessness by 37 percent since 2021,” said COG’s report, Homelessness in Metropolitan Washington.
"The number of individuals who are in permanent housing and no longer experiencing homelessness was more than three times the number of people counted as literally homeless on the night of the annual enumeration.”
In addition, in 2025: 10,804 individuals were rapidly rehoused; 17,959 persons were served in permanent supportive housing, and 5,456 persons were served in other permanent housing. This brings the regional total of persons previously experiencing homelessness in 2025 to 34,219. The significant number of people placed in permanent housing has constrained the incidence of homelessness in the region and helped prevent it from growing unchecked. Conclusion: This is the sixth year conducting the annual enumeration since the COVID-19 public health emergency began. The results during the period of 2020 to 2025 provide further evidence that strategies the region's CoCs are implementing when scaled up and fully funded are effective in preventing and ending homelessness."
Point-in-Time counts are conducted in all U.S. states and territories. They are required for each Continuum of Care (CoC) regional grouping. 2025 Point-in-Time Homeless Count results are summarized in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' publication Homelessness in Metropolitan Washington: Results and Analysis from the 2025 Point-in-Time Count of Persons Experiencing Homelessness. The year 2025 marks the 25th consecutive year that the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee conducted a regional Point-in-Time (PIT) enumeration of the area's residents experiencing homelessness.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) is an independent, nonprofit association that brings area leaders together to address major regional issues in the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia.
