Some of D.C.’s affluent suburbs are facing homeless crises of their own.
A May study by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments found that homelessness had increased dramatically in nearly every suburb between 2005 and 2009. In Loudoun County, it spiked by more than 63 percent. In Prince William, homelessness leaped by 25 percent. In Montgomery, it increased nearly 17 percent.
The only jurisdictions to see a decrease since 2005 were Alexandria and Prince George’s County, the council study found.
D.C. remains the capital of homelessness — more than half of the region’s 12,000-plus homeless live in the District — but the mere fact of homelessness in otherwise wealthy suburbs strikes many consciences.
“I don’t think it’s harder to handle,” said Terry Lynch, spokesman for the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, a nonprofit church group. “I think it’s more shocking and unsettling to the communities.”
It hasn’t helped that those communities are facing budget crises of their own. Loudoun, for instance, is struggling to close a $140 million-plus budget gap.
That doesn’t leave a lot of attractive options, community leaders say.
“In today’s real estate market, to house someone and to subsidize them in a rental unit costs you $1,000 per month. To build a unit and to work with a developer, that costs you hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Anita Friedman, an executive with the Department of Human Services in Arlington.
