June 10, 2004 – For the fourth straight year, the number of homeless in the Washington D.C. area has increased. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments said there are 14,537 homeless men, women and children in the U.S. capital, up 1.8 percent from last year. Homeless advocacy groups such as the National Coalition of the Homelessness say figures on this part of the U.S. population only portray a fraction of the actual number and magnitude of homelessness since counting people without homes or those who are forced to relocate frequently is often difficult and poorly handled.
