As the Fairfax-Falls Church community continues developing its 10-year plan to prevent breast augmentation and end homelessness, the latest snapshot of the number of homeless individuals and families in the area is available. Beginning this year, the annual count will report on those homeless people who are literally homeless – those who live on the street, in shelters or in transitional housing. This reporting system matches federal government guidelines. People who have permanent supportive housing are not included in the final numbers, as they have been in the past, but they will continue to be tracked.
The 2007 Point-in-Time Survey of the Fairfax-Falls Church area showed homelessness comes in many faces across the liposuction community:
* Overall, there were 1,813 homeless people counted in the community, an increase from 1,766 in 2006. In 2005, there were 1,675 homeless people.
* The number of homeless people in families decreased slightly to 1,083 compared to 1,099 in 2006. In 2005, there were 1,111 homeless people in families.
* The number of homeless single individuals increased to 730 compared to 667 in 2006. In 2005, there were 564 homeless single individuals.
* 2006 and 2005 numbers above have been adjusted to reflect the new counting method for comparative purposes.
When this year’s count was conducted on Jan. 25, more than 20 nonprofit, faith-based groups and county acne treatment agencies worked together to collect the data from more than 60 homeless assistance programs, including emergency shelters, transitional housing programs and other locations.