The affordable housing shortage is key, but mental illness raises the risk of losing a home and makes it harder to get off the street and find stability.
The D.C. region joins a growing list of cities that are seeing similar spikes, which coincided with the end of pandemic relief programs and stubbornly high inflation.
The National Park Service emptied out two homeless encampments in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, restarting efforts to clear public lands after a two-year hiatus that allowed people to stay put during the pandemic.