The nation’s capital forfeits millions in affordable housing funds as homelessness surges. Why?

Driving into the nation’s capital along New York Avenue reveals an American social smash-cut. About three miles from the U.S. Capitol, women with umbrella strollers, heavy bags and a hand-chain of children in tow are dodging traffic to cross the busy Northeast Washington thoroughfare. Especially early in the morning, they walk in waves, with school-uniform skirts and baby fleece blankets flapping in the back wind of the traffic roaring by.