A DCHS CONNECT FEATURE

June 9, 2022- The annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count provides a one-night unduplicated “snapshot” of persons experiencing homelessness as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Continuum of Care-led teams, comprised of local homeless service providers, Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) staff and volunteers, manually counted and surveyed persons who were unsheltered (i.e., who slept outdoors or in places not meant for habitation) in the City of Alexandria. The PIT results help convey the scope of homelessness, identify and assess unmet needs and gaps in services, inform funding and other planning decisions, and evaluate progress made in preventing and ending homelessness.

The 2022 Point-in-Time process also includes information from the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which collects data from individuals and families participating in homeless service programs such as the Winter Shelter, Carpenter’s Shelter, Alexandria Community Shelter, and the Domestic Violence Shelter.

This year’s 2022 PIT Count was conducted on January 28 and identified 120 persons experiencing homelessness in the city, a 13% increase from the 2021 PIT Count. This number only includes people meeting HUD’s homeless definition and does not include those who are “couch-surfing” and doubling up. Residents experiencing these forms of unseen homelessness are outside of the purview of the PIT Count.

The 2022 PIT Count showed 73 households without children, a 16% increase from 2021. There were 60 single men and 13 single women identified, which is a 30% increase for men and a 24% decrease for women from the 2021 count. There were 17 households with adults and children, of which two were chronically homeless. There was also a 50% decrease (4) in the number of households that reported experiencing homelessness due to fleeing domestic violence.

Although there was an increase in the homeless number from 2021 to 2022, there has been an overall decrease compared to the pre-COVID count in 2020. The decrease in numbers is reflective of the emergency shelters operating, although at a limited capacity, following Centers for Disease Control safety guidelines for congregate settings. The homeless Continuum of Care (CoC) has noted that the acuity of care for those who are in the shelter is much higher compared to when emergency shelters were operating at full capacity. There was a 68% increase in clients with serious mental illness and a 200% increase in clients with substance use disorders and chronic health conditions and discharges from institutions such as jails and mental health care facilities.  

In alignment with the City’s racial equity priorities, the CoC is also examining the intersectionality of race and homelessness. Specifically, 73% of those experiencing homelessness identify as Black, African American, or African, which is a 5% decrease from 2021.  Utilizing local housing assistance trends, the CoC has incorporated race and ethnicity as a quantified housing barrier. This helps to prioritize residents of color who are homeless for housing assistance based on the challenges they face. The CoC is also updating Alexandria’s Strategic Plan to End Homelessness to include actions and strategies to advance racial equity within each goal, and more importantly, engage residents with lived expertise to participate in the development of solutions. To change the outcomes for Black residents, the CoC and the City of Alexandria must keep working to address housing barriers through services, assessments, and resources designed to center racial equity.  

During this past year, the CoC has applied for and received additional COVID-related funding to advance the goals of housing security. The CoC helped 151 clients move into Rapid Re-housing and Permanent Supportive Housing solutions, effectively helping to keep shelter stays short while supporting the overarching goal of reducing the likelihood of experiencing homelessness again. The work of the Eviction Prevention Task Force and Rapid Rehousing programs have a direct impact on reducing homelessness in the City of Alexandria, but neither is without unique challenges including: 

• Households still struggle to find affordable units for which they qualify.
• The extent of the need for rental assistance consistently exceeds original projections. The assistance must be tailored to fit the household’s budget and ability to sustain housing costs post-assistance, which often limits the household’s ability to meet its housing need.
• Grantors’ guidelines for rapid re-housing funding assistance dictate that rental subsidies do not exceed fair market rents, which creates a barrier for households to access the limited affordable permanent housing.

Taking the upstream approach for the better part of two years has expanded the CoC’s perspective of housing stability assistance and has encouraged city providers of all sectors to get involved in the earlier stages of the housing crisis. This holistic perspective has helped keep residents housed, but it has been fueled by new COVID-response processes and funding, some of which have an expiration date. The CoC will continue to advocate for resources, coordination, outreach to residents facing eviction and more affordable housing.

Learn more about the City’s Homeless Services. See information on housing assistance and eviction prevention.  Get involved in a local housing group. Download the 2022 Housing Resource Guide, also in Spanish , Amharic  and Arabic.  Learn about All Alexandria, the City’s race and social equity initiative.