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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The number of Alexandria residents experiencing homelessness rose 14 percent from 2025 to 2026, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' annual Point-in-Time count released this week, with a sharp increase in children driving the local change.
The 2026 count identified 189 people experiencing homelessness in Alexandria on the night of Feb. 4, up from 166 in 2025 and a 1 percent increase from 187 in 2024. Looking further back, the city's 2026 count was 9 people, or 5 percent, below its 2019 pre-pandemic level — making Alexandria one of only two jurisdictions in the eight-jurisdiction region to record a decline from 2019, alongside the District of Columbia.
The annual enumeration is the 26th consecutive year that COG has published a regional report on the scope and circumstances of homelessness. This year's count was originally scheduled for Jan. 28 but was postponed to Feb. 4 due to severe winter weather, including snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Regionally, the count totaled 9,790 people experiencing homelessness, an increase of 131 people, or 1 percent, from 2025. Five jurisdictions reported increases, including Alexandria, and three reported decreases. Loudoun County recorded a 25 percent increase and Prince George's County a 29 percent increase, while Montgomery County recorded the largest decline at 26 percent. Arlington County and Prince William County each saw slight declines of 1 percent.
The report also noted that 28,889 formerly homeless individuals across the region are now in permanent housing, nearly three times the literally homeless population. That figure includes 3,680 individuals in rapid rehousing, 19,357 in permanent supportive housing and 5,852 in other permanent housing.
"The significant number of people in permanent housing remains an important part of the region's response to homelessness," the COG report stated. "These housing resources help residents exit homelessness, stabilize, and avoid a return to the homeless services system."
In Alexandria, the city counted 104 households without children, a 3 percent increase from 2025. There were 68 single men and 36 single women identified, each a 3 percent increase from the previous year. The count included 24 households with adults and children, two more than last year, and none were chronically homeless.
The Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness in the City of Alexandria, which serves as the local Continuum of Care, noted that the year-over-year increase was largely driven by a higher number of children. The 2026 count included 56 children, compared with 36 in 2025.
The count also identified 19 individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Alexandria, up from 14 in 2025. Households reporting homelessness due to fleeing domestic violence decreased 26 percent, from 23 in 2025 to 17 in 2026.
Aligning with the city's priorities of belonging, the Partnership sorted data by race and found that 133 people, or 71 percent of those experiencing homelessness in Alexandria, identified as Black, African American or African in 2026, an increase from 64 percent in 2025. The Partnership said its Pathways to Opportunity and Access Committee was established to mitigate disparities through education, awareness and compensating those with lived experience of homelessness for participation in program and policy discussions.
Based on the city's estimated 2025 population of 160,662, the count translates to roughly 1.2 people per 1,000 residents, or 0.12 percent of the population. The regional rate was 1.8 per 1,000, or 0.18 percent.
The Partnership attributed Alexandria's overall trend to a combination of structural factors and methodological changes. The report cited the city's high housing market costs, "where existing funding subsidies do not go as far as they once did, ultimately serving fewer households," along with continuing economic increases in housing, food and transportation costs. The Partnership also noted that without changes such as the reclassification of some homeless service programs and fluctuating family sizes in shelter, Alexandria's count would have been at or above pre-pandemic levels.
The COG report identified measurable regional progress in reducing homelessness among families and veterans, while pointing to "a critical shortage of deeply affordable housing and supportive services" as a continuing barrier to greater reductions.
Alexandria's emergency response system includes 124 year-round emergency shelter beds — 40 for households without children and 84 for households with adults and children — along with 21 transitional housing beds for families and 20 beds at the Domestic Violence Program Shelter. From Nov. 1 to April 15, the Winter Shelter Program adds an additional 50 seasonal beds.
The Partnership said it has continued to employ creative strategies to address rising need, including collaboration with the Alexandria Health Department, the Community Services Board and Neighborhood Health to support residents holistically. Carpenter's Shelter was awarded $600,000 in rapid rehousing funds through a competitive grant process to move Alexandrians from homelessness into stable housing. The CoC has also used low-income housing tax credit programs to develop affordable housing at the Waypoint, the Spire and Square 511.
The Partnership identified ongoing challenges that include households struggling to find affordable units, one-fifth of residents seeking emergency shelter reporting eviction as the reason for their homelessness, and grantor guidelines that cap rapid rehousing subsidies at fair market rents, which the report said "creates a barrier for households to access limited affordable housing."
The Alexandria CoC is one of four COG region communities that joined the national Built for Zero initiative in 2024. In 2026, the city aims to achieve quality by-name data for veterans and begin uploading data for all single adults.
Residents experiencing a housing crisis can contact the city's Homeless Services Assessment Center at 703-746-5700, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After hours, the Alexandria Community Shelter can be reached at 703-746-3660 and Carpenter's Shelter at 703-548-7500, ext. 228.
