NOVEMBER 2022

The Office to Prevent and End Homelessness – now part of the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development – is committed to eliminating the disproportionality of people at-risk of or experiencing homelessness from communities of color and other marginalized populations by providing equitable paths to safe, stable, affordable housing.
 

PARTNERSHIP UPDATES

• Point-in-Time (PIT) and Housing Inventory Count (HIC): Fairfax County, in coordination with the surrounding Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, is scheduled to conduct its 2023 Point-In-Time Count of individuals and families experiencing homelessness on January 25, 2023.

• Continuum of Care (CoC) Committee Meeting: The CoC Committee, the governing body of the CoC met at the offices of the Fairfax County’s Department of Housing and Community Development (3700 Pender Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030) on October 12. Meeting materials are available at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/homeless/coccommittee.

• Housing Problem Solving: Prevention Strategies: Housing problem-solving is a person-centered, housing-focused approach to exploring creative, safe, and cost-effective solutions to quickly resolve a housing crisis. As a philosophy and approach, housing problem-solving is not rooted in historically marginalizing practices.

• Monkeypox Preparedness Considerations for Homeless Shelters
  This resource provides appropriate messaging and communication, symptom screening, animal care, cleaning and disinfection, testing, treatments, vaccination, hygiene, bathroom protocols, and meal management in response to Monkeypox.
   

Funding Information

• HUD Announces Housing Choice Vouchers: Secretary Fudge announces more than 19,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers in the most expansive allocation of flexible rental assistance in 20 years. As part of HUD’s announced allocation of Housing Choice Vouchers, the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) will receive 41 new Housing Choice Vouchers to assist qualified working households to move from the waiting list into homes.

• HUD Continuum of Care Program Competition: Fairfax County’s CoC submitted its application for $10,626,768 for the 2022 HUD CoC Program competition on September 28, 2022. The CoC Application and Priority List are available at https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/homeless/continuum-care.
   

Data Spotlight

• Annual Homeless Assessment Report (Part 2) Published: The 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR): Part 2 was published in August 2022 and presents the most recent national estimates of homelessness. The report focuses on people who experience homelessness as individuals, as family members, and as members of specific subpopulations. For each of these populations, the estimates describe how homelessness has changed over time and provide a demographic profile of homelessness in America. Due to capacity constraints on communities from their COVID-19 response, HUD combined the 2019 and 2020 data submission process. HUD made some minor updates to the methodology in this report, resulting in 2019 being a new baseline for comparing AHAR changes over time. The AHAR is delivered each year to the U.S. Congress, and its contents are used to inform Federal, State, and local policies to prevent and end homelessness. Information pertaining to homeless veterans is incorporated into this report. This report is the second part of a two-part series. The first part for 2019 is the 2019 AHAR: Part 1 - PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S. and the first part for 2020 is the 2020 AHAR: Part 1 - PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S.

Training Opportunities

Please register for the following trainings if you would like to attend.

• Trauma Informed Care 101 Training
  November 2, 10AM-12PM
  Bobbi Mason, Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, will be presenting this impactful training. Trauma Informed Care will increase attendees’ professional capacity to understand and address clients and others that have experienced traumatic experiences. 
   
• Harm-Reduction & Providing Low-Barrier Homeless Services
  November 5, 10AM-12PM
  November 10, 6:30PM-9PM
  December 9, 9AM-11:30AM
  Join us in learning about Harm Reduction in Homeless Services in addition to understanding what Low-Barrier is and what Low-Barrier is not.
   
• Public Assistance & Employment Services – Information Session (Fairfax)
  November 16, 1PM-2:30PM
  Review the medical, financial, and food assistance programs available to support adults and families, as well as county and state resources.
   
• New Year Update: Public Assistance & Employment Services
  January 24, 10AM-11:30AM
  Join us for a virtual new year update information session hosted by Fairfax County's Department of Family Services, Public Assistance & Employment Services (PAES) Division.
   
• Flexible Foundations for Shelter Supports and Beyond
  Join the Action Alliance and Tori Wynecoop, Training and Technical Assistance Manager at the National Center on Domestic Violence Trauma and Mental Health (NCDVTMH), for three virtual trainings about collaborative and flexible approaches to address complex service needs. In this 3-part training for shelter staff and other front-line advocates, participants will examine their expectations around crisis intervention; explore how to promote shared responsibility in the shelter and use the stages of change model to support survivors’ goals.
   
  • November 17th, 2022, 3:00 to 4:30 PM EST:
    Moving from Rules to Shared Expectations
  • January 19th, 2023, 3:00 to 4:30 PM EST:
    Supporting Survivors Who Use Substances.
  • March 16th, 2023, 3:00 to 4:30 PM EST:
    Navigating Conflict & Change
     
• 2022 Virginia Governor's Housing Conference (Cost associated)
  November 16-18, 2022
  Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia
  The Virginia Governor's Housing Conference has a broad range of attendees from many professional sectors including nonprofit organizations, foundations, and other philanthropic donors, affordable housing developers, economic developers, local government elected officials, design professionals, financial institutions, government agencies, private developers, real estate professionals, educational institutions, trade organizations, community-based and faith-based organizations, and public housing providers. The conference consistently attracts more than 800 affordable housing advocates, providers, and policymakers to discuss a host of important issues affecting all Virginians. Registration ends November 11, 2022.