Rents are rising. The number of low-income units is dwindling. And efforts to address the issue in the region have met with little success while the number of homeless residents, particularly in the District, rises.

A study released this month from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, working in conjunction with law firm Hogan Lovells, provides some solutions for an issue that has stupefied civic leaders across the region — and the country.

“We thought things were getting better, but actually they are getting worse,” said Mary Anne Sullivan, a partner at Hogan Lovells, who worked on the study.

In the District, half of the renters in the District face “severe housing burdens,” defined by the federal government as spending more than a third of income on housing. In Alexandria, the number of affordable units diminished to 6,416 in 2011, compared with 18,128 in 2000. Arlington has seen a 47 percent jump in rent prices. Prince George’s has opted not to pursue much more affordable housing in a county in which poverty rates are rising. And planning estimates suggest Montgomery will need more at least 33,000 units by 2022 for families making less than six figures.