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Fairfax County counted 1,322 people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 22, 2025, a 3 percent increase from the 1,278 recorded on Jan. 24, 2024. The year-over-year rise of 44 people came even as the total across eight Washington-area jurisdictions fell by 1 percent, or 115 people.

Fairfax was one of four jurisdictions in the regional count to report an increase in sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. It also recorded the region’s largest one-year rise in chronic homelessness, with the count climbing from 184 people in 2024 to 248 in 2025 after two consecutive annual declines.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments released the results May 14 in its analysis of the 2025 Point-in-Time Count.

This year’s regional count was conducted on Jan. 22 and Jan. 29. Inauguration-related security concerns prompted organizers to use two nights instead of the customary single night. Across the eight participating jurisdictions, 86 percent of the people counted were staying in shelters.

Fairfax County’s findings continued to show a sharp racial disparity. Black, African American or African residents accounted for 48 percent of people experiencing homelessness.

County findings also identified 263 adults as chronically homeless, representing nearly one-third of the adults counted. The report separately listed Fairfax’s comparable chronic-homelessness count as rising from 184 to 248. In addition, 77 households were actively fleeing domestic violence, up from 59 a year earlier.

“More people were using shelters the night we were conducting the count,” said Tom Barnett, deputy director of the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness within the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development. “It is clear that our region has not yet recovered from the pandemic, which dramatically increased homelessness counts in 2021.”

There were some signs of improvement. Fairfax recorded a notable decline in unsheltered single adults between 2024 and 2025. Regionwide, that population fell by 10 percent, a reduction of 148 people.

Fairfax also posted the largest reduction in veteran homelessness from 2021 to 2025, with 22 fewer veterans counted.

Across the region, the number of formerly homeless people living in permanent housing has increased by 37 percent since 2021. In 2025, that population was more than three times the number of people classified as literally homeless during the annual count.

The regional housing figures included 10,804 people served through rapid rehousing, 17,959 in permanent supportive housing and 5,456 in other permanent housing. Together, those programs served 34,219 people who had previously experienced homelessness.

The 2025 enumeration was the sixth conducted since the COVID-19 public health emergency began and the region’s 25th consecutive annual Point-in-Time Count. Such counts are required for Continuum of Care regional groups throughout every U.S. state and territory.