A new report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) said homelessness in Prince William County decreased 17 percent from last year. 

The report, Homeless in Metropolitan Washington, was released May 9 and cited that since 2008, the overall count of homeless decreased 15 percent. 

In terms of numbers, on the 2011 survey date 566 people said they were homeless. This year, 467 said they were homeless. 

To gather this data, the COG report takes a one-day survey throughout Northern Virginia jurisdictions on Jan. 25, 2012 to provide a “snapshot” of homelessness. 

In Dale City, staff and volunteers from the Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center and AfterShare program in Woodbridge surveyed the community. Staff announced Jan. 27, 2012, that they had counted 20 men and seven women living in the woods; while William Howard, a homeless man, estimated 40 people lived in the area near his campsite off of Dale Boulevard.  

In the report, the count included those who live as unsheltered persons living on the streets, including parks, alleys and campsites, in emergency hypothermia shelters, in transitional housing with support services, formerly homeless living in permanent housing. 

Prince William County’s 2012 homelessness count is below the 2009 survey count of 630 persons, the highest count since 2008. The county ranks between Arlington (451 homeless) and Prince George's County in Maryland (641) on the list of nine area jurisdictions.

Washington, D.C. cited 6,954 homeless residents, the top of the list, while Loudoun County had the lowest number of homeless residents, 164.

In the greater Washington, D.C. region 11,830 people indicated that they were homeless when surveyed in January. That’s a 0.4 percent decrease from 2011 when 11,879 said they were homeless.

Prince William County has a permanent winter homeless shelter open in Woodbridge from Nov. 1 through March 3.