The number of homeless people in Montgomery County has increased 124% in last year. Individuals living in shelters, on the streets and in cars rose from 675 in 2024 to 1,500 this year, according to N’Jeri Henry, deputy director of homeless services at Interfaith Works.
The organization in Rockville operates emergency shelters, a clothing center, food pantry, vocational training, a computer lab and overall safe spaces for the tens of thousands of clients it assists each year.
Now is one of their busiest times as temperatures drop and more people seek a warm place to stay.
Interfaith Works operates a drop-in center at Progress Place in Silver Spring, as well as a year-round shelter on the third floor, and overflow space from November to April. Its co-ed New Leaf shelter in Rockville has 35 beds. The Women’s Center at Taft in Rockville has 37 beds, and the Women’s Center at Crabbs Branch in Derwood provides 40 beds.
“As of right now, all of our shelters are filled,” Henry told MCM on Wednesday. “All of our locations, we’ve opened to overflow, due to the cold temperatures,” she said, adding, “We’ve been in full capacity for the past two weeks.”
Federal layoffs and the government shutdown have only made a bad situation worse. “That just added fuel to the fire” during a time when homelessness was increasing in part due to the rising costs of living and housing.
Henry believes it is going to get worse. Although the Maryland has joined other states in suing the federal government so SNAP and supportive housing programs programs won’t be slashed, she is not optimistic.
“The general understanding is it will be a heavy hit.”
Staff at Interfaith Works are striving to be creative, placing people in rooms rather than apartments, providing small subsidies to help someone move in with friends or family, catch up on their rent, and even pair people as roommates in apartments. The staff also provides vocational assistance to help clients gain employment to cover their expenses.
“Maybe they just need a little support,” she said.
Henry has been with Interfaith Works for eight years and declared the current climate “the worst that I’ve seen. When I started in the world of homelessness, there were always a good number of programs you could plug into,” she said.
Now, “the number of openings is not keeping up” with the growing need, she explained.
Interfaith Works, Montgomery County’s Services to End and Prevent Homelessness, Bethesda Cares and the many other organizations and volunteers involved with ending homelessness continue to do what they can.
More volunteers are needed, but so are kind words, Henry said. “Take the time to talk to someone on the street. Acknowledge them. Give them hope.”
