Hunley: Next time, I'll think before I speak

I'm a hypocrite.

As I wrote last week, I sold my former home, and I'm waiting to move into a new place. My loan settlement should happen in a few days.

In the meantime, I've frequently joked about being "homeless."

Friends have gotten into the act as well, chiding me for having nowhere to lay my head.

But while I'm inconvenienced, I'm far from homeless.

And when people who are simply between homes make jokes like this, it's a safe bet that those who are actually homeless don't find them funny.

It's hard to say exactly how many people are homeless in the Prince William area at this very moment.

But in a 24-hour period in late January, local shelter volunteers counted 637 people without homes -- a 15 percent increase from 2008.

In that same time frame, more than 12,000 people were found to be homeless in the D.C. area overall, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Sometimes statistics can be misleading. But any way you look at this problem, the numbers are depressing.

For example: In Virginia, 9,800 people find themselves without a home on any given night, according to the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness.

Add the other 49 states, and the figure jumps to about 675,000, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

This area's homeless find help mainly at three places: the Hilda M. Barg Homeless Prevention Center and shelters run by Securing Emergency Resources through Volunteer Efforts and Action in Community Through Service.

Taken together, these facilities provide more than 100 beds.

But if that January figure holds true, that means dozens of people frequently have no roof over their heads despite the yeoman's work of shelter staff and volunteers.

The wounded local real estate market isn't helping things, either.

"Although the area does not have significant evidence of homelessness due to foreclosures," a Council of Governments report from last month said, "a trend to watch will be the number of rental units that become unavailable to the lower and lowest income people due to the appearance of singles and families that lost homes but still have decent enough wages to pay rents."

In addition, folks already renting are losing their homes when their landlords default on loans, the report said.

None of this is a big news flash. There have been homeless people for as long as there have been, well, people.

And most every facet of the real estate market here has already been scrutinized.

But abstract concepts such as homelessness seem a lot more concrete when you think about how real people are affected.

My situation is plenty annoying, but I'll have a permanent place to live soon enough. I can't imagine how devastating it must be to actually lose your home.

But I know one thing: I'll watch my mouth from now on.

Jonathan Hunley is a staff writer at the News & Messenger. Contact him at 703-369-5738 or at

jhunley@insidenova.com.