Return to Graphic Version

Search Site:

Index

Online Services

Our Government

News and Events

Maps, Facts & Stats

State & Federal

Partner Update ~ 100,000 Homes Fairfax Campaign

This campaign is a national movement of communities working together to find permanent homes for 100,000 of the country’s most vulnerable and chronically homeless individuals and families. The Fairfax-Falls Church community has been invited to participate in this campaign locally, providing us with another collaborative opportunity that helps us achieve our 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.

April 10

Next Steps for the 100,000 Homes Fairfax Campaign    

Who Was Counted
Registry Week was the first event of its kind in Fairfax County. Over 200 volunteers from local businesses and houses of worship joined partner nonprofits to survey homeless individuals across the community late into the night and into the early morning. Together, they identified the most vulnerable and chronically homeless individuals in our community who are living in local shelters, on the streets and in the woods.

A final analysis of the surveys has resulted in a new Vulnerability Index Registry, which includes the names and faces of 157 individuals who are at high risk of mortality if they remain homeless. This number represents 34 percent of the total 461 homeless individuals who were surveyed during Registry Week. In order for a surveyed individual to be counted as vulnerable they must have been homeless for at least six months and have at least one of the qualifiers below. 

Moving Forward with Your Support
Now that we have identified the most vulnerable and chronically homeless individuals in our community, the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness is moving forward.

The personalized stories from the surveys are helping us make important decisions about how to prioritize and allocate housing and support services. We will need your continued support and collaboration as we take these next steps in the campaign:

1. Acquire housing and services – Campaign partners will work with the community to find new ways to secure housing units, funding and support for those identified in the surveys.
2. Move people into housing – Data collected from Registry Week will help campaign partners match individuals to the housing, service models and rental supports that best fit their needs and eligibility. 
3. Keep them in housing – Most important of all, partners in the campaign need your help to ensure that individuals are able to maintain housing over the long term.

You can support the 100,000 Homes Fairfax campaign by donating online or by filling out an online commitment card to provide housing, leadership, advocacy, financing and other resources.

Keep up with the latest news about the campaign by subscribing to Partner Update, visiting our 100,000 Homes Fairfax webpage, joining the community partnership’s Facebook group and following campaign partners via Twitter at #100kHomesFfx. Contact Tom Barnett at the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness with questions.

March 14

Registry Week Allows Those Who are Homeless to Share their Stories

Saturday, February 23 kicked off “Registry Week” and the beginning of the 100K Homes Fairfax campaign. Over 200 volunteers joined partner nonprofits to survey homeless individuals across the Fairfax-Falls Church community. The volunteers came from many local businesses and houses of worship. Together, they created a registry with names and photographs of every individual who was homeless. The goal was to identify the most vulnerable, chronically homeless individuals and hear their personalized stories, which will help the community in making important decisions about how to prioritize and allocate housing and support services.

On March 4, a Community Debriefing was hosted to share the initial results of the surveys, tell the stories of both the volunteers and homeless individuals, and begin garnering resources to support the campaign. View a video summarizing the event, as well as a  video of personal stories and slides from the morning’s presentation. Some of the initial findings indicate the following: 

• 462 individuals were surveyed, only 52 individuals refused to participate
• 23 percent of the individuals surveyed were between 18-34 years old
• 35 of the individuals surveyed have been in foster care
• 27 percent of the individuals surveyed are 55 years and older
• 10 percent of the individuals surveyed have served in the US Armed Services
• 42 percent of the individuals surveyed are working
• 23 percent of the individuals surveyed have permanent physical disabilities limiting mobility
• 17 percent of the individuals surveyed have had serious brain injury or head trauma
• 36 percent of the individuals surveyed are mentally ill
• At least 107 individuals, or 23 percent, of the individuals surveyed have markers that indicate high risk of mortality

Additional findings will soon be released in a more detailed fact sheet. Keep up with the latest news by subscribing to Partner Update, visiting 100K Homes Fairfax or following the campaign partners via Twitter at the hashtag #100kHomesFfx. You can help support the 100K Homes Fairfax campaign by donating online or filling out an online commitment card to offer housing, leadership, advocacy, financing and other resources. Contact Tom Barnett at the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness with questions.

February 13

Kicking Off 100K Homes Fairfax: A Home for All

The Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness kicks off the “100K Homes Fairfax: A Home for All” campaign on Saturday, Feb. 23, beginning with the 100,000 Homes Fairfax Registry Week.

During this week volunteers will create a registry (to include names, photographs and qualitative information) of the most vulnerable and chronically homeless people in our community. This registry will be a first of its kind for Fairfax County, and will help put a real face on homelessness. Ending homelessness is difficult in the abstract. Creating solutions to homelessness becomes easier once we begin talking about the specific set of circumstances each person is facing. The personalized stories collected during Registry Week will help our community’s partnership make important decisions about how to prioritize and allocate housing and support services.

Partners from the faith community, nonprofit organizations and Fairfax County human services staff have already begun planning the logistics for the campaign's kickoff. Outreach workers are identifying locations where unsheltered individuals typically sleep, and volunteers are signing up to conduct surveys and/or work at one of the four regional headquarters during Registry Week.

We need your help. Get involved in the “100K Homes Fairfax” campaign and Registry Week today. Get the details, including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and a volunteer registration form. All partners are encouraged to attend the “Community Debriefing” at the end of Registry Week on March 4, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at the Jubilee Christian Center located at 4650 Shirley Gate Road, Fairfax, VA. 22030. Stories, pictures and videos from the week will be shared and you can learn more about how to support the campaign.

For more information about 100,000 Homes Fairfax, contact Tom Barnett or Debbie Scaggs.

 January 9

Community Partnership Focuses in on Chronically Homeless

Homelessness is an urgent problem in the Fairfax-Falls Church community. While we have generated some exciting results by rapidly moving families and individuals into housing with services, those experiencing chronic homelessness have been harder to help. That’s why the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness is joining The 100,000 Homes Campaign, a national movement to find permanent homes for 100,000 chronically homeless. The campaign provides concrete, innovative tools and infrastructure that will help us put a real face on homelessness. 

It is some people’s impression that the chronically homeless simply do not want housing. People assume that the man or woman on the street simply chooses to abandon a normal life and refuses to follow the rules. The reality is that the majority of chronically homeless individuals endures serious illness, and physical and mental disability on a daily basis. They have faced incredible adversity. They have often been abused, neglected and left to fall between the cracks. Paradoxically, the chronically homeless are often the most expensive consumers of many public services. Facing one crisis after another, they land in our emergency rooms, courts and treatment programs only to end up back on the streets. The publicly funded health costs of allowing these neighbors to remain on the streets can exceed the cost of supportive housing by tens of thousands of dollars per person each year.

The 100,000 Homes model demonstrates that chronically homeless individuals do want a home and can successfully secure and maintain permanent housing when the only requirement is to pay the rent and be a good tenant. Formerly homeless individuals receiving caring, individually tailored support services at each stage of their journey from homelessness tend to stay housed. As of Dec. 10, 2012, the national campaign has already housed 23,151 people! More than 90 percent of the people who were placed in housing via this model remain stably housed.

Our local campaign kicks off on Feb. 24 with Registry Week, when volunteers will create a registry, by name and photograph, of everyone experiencing homelessness in our area. The personalized stories about these individuals will help us make important decisions about how to prioritize and allocate housing and support resources.

This registry will be a first of its kind for Fairfax, putting a real face on homelessness. We call this effort “100,000 Homes Fairfax: A Home for All.” Nearly 300 people are chronically homeless in our community. Through this campaign, we anticipate getting half of them in housing in three years.

For general questions about the campaign, please contact Debbie Scaggs or Tom Barnett.

Our Chronically Homeless & Vulnerable

Here are just two profiles of chronically homeless individuals, the situations behind the faces, gathered from our partners who work first-hand with our chronically homeless and vulnerable residents. These synopses convey real truths about this population.

A 69 year old male appears much older than his stated age. He has hypertension, which is sometimes controlled, diabetes, which is rarely controlled, and venous insufficiency which turns his feet and legs blue. He is a chronic alcoholic and is incontinent. He’s currently staying at one of the hypothermia shelters for the winter, but the churches are upset with his constant wetting and soiling of their carpeting and he refuses to wear adult diapers. Fortunately, he has Medicare and a private physician, but they are reluctant to address his issues. The best future scenario would be to admit him into a long-term healthcare facility where his condition could be monitored. Time spent homeless: Seven years.

A 52 year old male with a history of severe diverticulitis disease, which abscessed a year or so ago, needs a colostomy to rest his intestinal tract. He has peripheral vascular disease and arthritis. He has been losing weight for some time now, partly due to dental pain. Additionally, he appears to have lost a lot of muscle mass and skin color due to his medical condition. Recently, a dental abscess was treated with antibiotics and then he was sent to the dental clinic for further treatment. What was thought to be an infection turned out to be a malignancy. While there are plans for him to go into medical respite post-op, where he will go from there is unclear. Living in one of the hypothermia shelters or outside is not going to be sanitary enough to keep him from massive infection. Time spent homeless: Five years.

Join the effort of the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness, a participant in the national 100,000 Homes and statewide 1,000 Homes for 1,000 Virginians campaigns, in the movement to end homelessness.

With your help, we can solve homelessness.

Read the latest edition of Partner Update.