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Text2006 Homelessness Point-in-Time Survey
Fairfax County Office of Public
Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
703-324-3187, TTY 711, FAX 703-324-2010
March 27, 2006
Annual Homelessness
Point-in-Time Survey Results Released
The 2006 Point-in-Time Survey of the Fairfax-Falls Church area showed that homelessness comes in many faces across the community:
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55 percent of the homeless population were people in families:
- 724 children in families
- 419 adults in families -
45 percent of the homeless population were single individuals:
- 934 single individuals - Of families with children, 80 percent have a single head of household; 95 percent of those are female-headed households.
- Of single individuals, a total of 667 were “literally homeless,” which means those living on the street, in emergency shelters, using overnight programs or accessing time-limited housing.
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Of homeless adults, nearly 50 percent were employed:
- 28 percent of single adults
- 62 percent of persons age 18-64 in families
Overall, there were 2,077 homeless people counted in the community, an increase from 1,949 in 2005. Most of the increase (103 people) can be attributed to the literally homeless. A new hypothermia response program and more aggressive outreach may have resulted in finding more people who in previous years remained hidden during the annual count. The number of homeless families remained constant at 333 families, with 1,143 people (the number of children and adults cited above).
When this year’s count was conducted on Jan. 25, more than 20 nonprofit, faith-based groups and county agencies worked together to collect the data from more than 60 homeless assistance programs, including emergency shelters, transitional housing programs and other locations.
The Fairfax County community is preparing to address this complex problem in a more comprehensive way. On April 7, a Community Summit to End Homelessness will convene to bring together the public sector, business, philanthropic, nonprofit and faith communities to discuss ending homelessness in 10 years, following national guidelines that many communities across the country have embraced. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors called for the summit last year; Freddie Mac and the Freddie Mac Foundation are sponsoring the summit and hosting the day’s activities at their headquarters in McLean.
A summary report, more detailed information and analysis of the Point-in-Time Survey can be found online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/homeless/2006_survey.pdf. For more information on the report, contact Bill Macmillan in the Department of Systems Management for Human Services at 703-324-4657, TTY 711.
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