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TextCommunity Partnership - Office to Prevent and End Homelessness
Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness (OPEH)
In 2008, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors established OPEH to manage, coordinate and monitor day-to-day implementation of the community’s plan to end homelessness within the next 10 years. OPEH supports the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness which engages nonprofits, businesses, faith-based communities and county agencies in its efforts to implement the 10-Year plan, which focuses on rapid re-housing and prevention by increasing the availability of permanent affordable housing. OPEH also works closely with the independent Governing Board of the community partnership to build awareness and provide strong leadership for the plan. In addition, OPEH supports a new prevention model (Housing Opportunities Support Teams or HOST) that provide services and resources to at-risk families and individuals, thus preventing them from becoming homelessness; an Housing Options Interagency Work Group which ensures coordination across all service providers; and a Consumer Advisory Council which provides high-level input from persons who are or have been homeless. Ultimately a new nonprofit foundation will be created to expand fundraising.
OPEH works closely in partnership with other county agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Department of Family Services, the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board, the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services, the Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the Office of Emergency Management and the Office of Public Affairs. OPEH also has close ties with the Fairfax County Public Schools.
Dean Klein is the first director of OPEH, having taken over the
helm of the new agency on March 3, 2009. He has years of experience in
working with persons who are homeless, nonprofits, faith-based
communities, foundations and other funders, and the government. He
previously worked at the Freddie Mac Foundation where he collaborated and
oversaw corporate philanthropic investments to 100 local and national
homelessness housing nonprofits and secured an $800,000 Housing First
grant for the National Alliance to End Homelessness in the national
capital region. He also has served as the executive director of Shelter
House Inc.; executive director of Doorways for Women and Families; and
vice president and chief operating officer of Greater D.C. Cares.
Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessnes
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 561 Fairfax, Va 22033
Phone: 703-324-9492, TTY: 711
Email for General
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