The city of Washington, D.C. - the U.S. capital - faces a continuing crisis in family homelessness. The latest data show that more than a thousand families are homeless, including at least 1800 children. That number has risen almost 75 percent since the recession started in 2008. Local shelters were crammed full this winter, while access to affordable housing has been severely restricted due to funding cuts and the city’s rising cost of living. Milena Djurdjic, of VOA’s Serbian Service, recently visited one homeless shelter, which houses close to 300 families.