Fairfax County saw an uptick in people experiencing homelessness this past winter, reporting its highest count in more than a decade.
The 2025 Point-in-Time Count conducted by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee found 1,322 individuals experiencing homelessness in the county on Jan. 22, 2025 — an increase of 3% or 44 people from last year.
Narrowly surpassing the 1,310 homeless individuals reported in 2023, the 2025 count is Fairfax County’s highest since 2013, when there were 1,350 people experiencing homelessness, according to past COG reports.
The increase continues a surge in homelessness that has persisted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which “dramatically increased homelessness counts in 2021,” according to Tom Barnett, deputy director of the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development’s Office to Prevent and End Homelessness.
Barnett noted in a press release that the count serves as a snapshot, rather than an all-encompassing picture, that also reflects the number of people who happened to be using homeless shelters on one particular night.
“The Point-In-Time Count provides us with directional information on the amount of people experiencing homelessness in our community on a single night,” he said.
According to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), nearly half of the people counted as homeless (48%) were Black, African American or African, a disproportionate rate given that that demographic accounts for only 11.1% of the county’s overall population. That disparity is slightly higher, but generally in line with previous counts.
The 2025 count also included 28 individuals 70 or older as well as 26 military veterans — the exact same number and percentage seen in 2024.
In addition, the county found more people experiencing chronic homelessness — which is defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as lasting continuously for at least a year or occurring at least four times in the past three years — and more people who were without a home due to domestic violence.
Almost one-third (29%, 263 people) of adults identified as experiencing chronic homelessness in the 2025 count. This is an increase from last year, most likely due to individuals experiencing longer episodes of homelessness.
Seventy-seven households indicated they were actively fleeing domestic violence on the date the 2025 PIT count was conducted, an increase from 59 households the previous year. Additionally, the number of households who noted they have experienced domestic violence in the past remained relatively the same from 195 households in 2025 and 194 households in 2024.
The Fairfax and Falls Church Continuum of Care Board, which coordinates efforts to prevent and end homelessness by local governments and nonprofits, recently reviewed the county’s approach to handling homeless encampments after one in Reston was cleared last September, prompting the Fairfax County NAACP to propose some changes.
Needing to vacate the land to make way for future development, the county opened a temporary overnight shelter in the North County Human Services Center to accommodate residents living in the Reston camp through the winter.
Those individuals were then shifted to the Embry Rucker Shelter in April when beds freed up there with the anticipated opening of a new emergency shelter for families in the Fair Oaks Area. Located in a converted Extended Stay America hotel, the Fair Ridge Shelter opened on April 2 with 85 units and plans for further expansion, including beds for people fleeing domestic violence.
In its press release, the HCD also noted that the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) obtained 300 vouchers last year to provide rental assistance and supportive services to unhoused individuals with serious mental illnesses.
After signing an agreement with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for the vouchers and $20 million in funding, the FCRHA is now working on “staffing and other logistics necessary to begin processing referrals and determining eligibility for the program’s 300 households,” a spokesperson says.
“It is anticipated the first participants will begin leasing in early summer, and that it will take about three years for the new program to fully lease-up,” the FCRHA spokesperson told FFXnow.
Ultimately, the only real way to reduce homelessness is to increase the availability of affordable housing, HCD Director Tom Fleetwood said in the release.
“The Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority is committed to delivering on the Board of Supervisors’ goal of 10,000 net new affordable units by 2034,” Fleetwood said, stating that the county is “making great strides toward achieving that goal.”
In a presentation to the board’s housing committee on March 25, housing staff reported that the county is under 40% of the way toward its target, with 1,298 affordable or workforce dwelling units delivered since 2020 and another 2,738 units under construction or progressing toward development.
Fairfax County’s data from the 2025 point-in-time count will be presented to the COG Board of Directors next Wednesday (May 14) as part of a regional analysis and annual report on homelessness.
