As DC homeless camps are cleared, where will people go? Montgomery County executive weighs in

MONTGOMERY CO., Md. - The Trump administration has been aggressively clearing out homeless encampments in D.C. amid the federal takeover of the city. 

Amid the swift dismantling of the camps, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich expressed concerns that some of those displaced would end up heading into Montgomery County.

Big picture view:

Last week, Elrich said his county was bracing for a potential homeless spike. On Wednesday, he told FOX 5 that so far, there has not been an increase in homelessness in the county as a result of the Trump administration shutting down homeless camps in D.C.  

But some homeless advocates and homeless people tell FOX 5 that it’s too soon to measure the impact.

While D.C. officials and organizations say they are trying to expand shelter space to house the homeless who had been living in encampments, they also caution the White House may have been successful in making the camps go away. The people who used to live in those camps are not going away.

By the numbers:

The 2025 headcount by the Washington Council of Governments found there are over 5,100 homeless people in D.C., about 1,500 people homeless in Montgomery County and 271 in Arlington County.  

One of those people, a man named Robert, told FOX 5 that most of the people he’s lived with in camps have now dispersed, but where? 

Advocates tell us that is a big question.

"They move to different places but where they’re at, I don’t know," Robert said. "Everybody doesn’t get along so somebody will move to  a different location." 

"It is still a place where someone has a sense of community and where outreach workers, mental health workers, etc., may be able to locate someone," said Lucho Vasquez with the Coalition for the Homeless.

What we know:

Elrich says he’s met with D.C. Mayor Murial Bowser about the situation and that D.C. has increased capacity to house people, while both governments are trying to minimize the impact.

"The District is trying to find places to house the people internally who are in the district and are being pushed out by the president from the encampments," Elrich said. "The president’s folks haven’t been driving them to the Montgomery County border, they’ve just been destroying the places where they sleep."

Arlington County officials tell FOX 5 they are sending "street outreach teams" to proactively provide services to people living on the street. 

The White House says since their actions began last week, 48 homeless encampments have been taken down and cleared out in D.C.