A Little over 1% of DC Residents are Homeless

So said the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government in the yearly estimate from about half a year ago.

They estimated 6,228 people were "literally homeless" in 2009 in the District of Columbia, a little over half of the total homeless population of the DC metro area (which is about 9 times the size of the relatively small [in square miles and in population; DC being one of the few cities [though I guess it wasn't part of the city at the time] to have shrunk in square miles rather than grown from its original size]) city itself.

I remember once walking home from the Hawk and Dove freshman year, and passing a bunch of homeless men sleeping in front of the IRS building, which really hit me.

Counting the homeless presents a unique challenge for the U.S. Census Bureau.