When it comes to the overall share of homeless residents, no state can compare to Washington, DC. Of the district's 694,000 residents, around 7,500 are homeless — a share that amounts to more than 1%. While this may not seem like a lot, it's more than three times the share in California, a state with nearly 57 times the population size.
An analysis from a local homeless services organization, Thrive DC, finds that three-quarters of their clients in DC have been homeless for more than a year. Though many of the people they serve are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault, the organization points to a lack of affordable housing and rising rental prices as the two biggest obstacles to ending homelessness in the district.