Posted on December 23, 2009
For many people, this is a season of hope and fulfillment. While many of us take the simple gifts of food, housing, health, and income for granted, Virginia Supportive Housing extends a message of hope to some of our most vulnerable citizens who struggle to satisfy even these most basic of human needs. Stories like Sam’s (below) remind us that when compassion translates into action, the gift of hope can be fulfilled. Hope is what Virginia Supportive Housing is all about.
Sam has been a resident of New Clay House since 2002. Now in his late forties, Sam struggled for years with intellectual disabilities and the challenges of independent living. Throughout school, he was in special education classes and eventually dropped out in the 11th grade. Due to his cognitive impairment (his IQ measures at 50), he has never been able to consistently support himself although he would occasionally do farm or yard work. Without a reliable source of income, he was dependent on periodic assistance from local churches.
In his twenties, he moved to Richmond with no real plan or means of support. He spent time in shelters and on the streets, occasionally living with friends. Despite the critical impact that Sam’s disability was having a on his daily functioning, his attempts to apply for disability income were repeatedly denied until Virginia Supportive Housing came into the picture.
Thanks to VSH support services staff, Sam’s SSI claim was approved within 90 days. He now has a safe place to live and a steady income that meets his basic needs. For the first time in his adult life, Sam can share in the hope and fulfillment of the holiday season. Happy Holidays from Virginia Supportive Housing!
Posted on December 1, 2009
For years I have been complaining about the emphasis in this country on homeownership to the detriment of rental housing. Every neighborhood and community plan I have ever looked at has an increase in homeownership as the top goal and priority. It’s hard to even find anything in these plans about rental housing, except to make sure it is maintained and doesn’t come tumbling down.
Last month, there was an article in the Washington Post by Charles Lane entitled “Doubling Down on the Wrong Housing Policy” that explores the dangers and consequences of our national obsession with homeownership—namely the current housing crisis. The article argues for a “fundamental change in strategy… a more level playing field between owning and renting.”
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with homeownership. I’m a homeowner and I like it. But not everyone can afford to own a home and some people shouldn’t. When we as a nation put homeownership on a pedestal, renting becomes second class. When was the last time you heard someone say they don’t want to be a homeowner? As Mr. Lane says in his article, there is no shame in being a tenant. People who rent should not be made to feel like second class citizens. Renting is okay. More than that, we should stop setting goals for homeownership. Let’s come up with a housing policy that puts homeownership and renting on an equal footing.
Our goals could be very simple: everyone should have a place to live; everyone should pay what they can afford for where they live; everyone or no one should get a tax break for where they live; and everyone should take care of the place they live to the best of their ability. I know. I live in a dream world. That’s never going to happen. Well, for the meantime, let’s at least stop calling homeownership the American dream. Look where that’s gotten us!
Posted on November 17, 2009
For this week’s blog, I have asked Allison Bogdanovic, VSH’s Director of Housing Development, to write a few words about regionalism and homelessness.
Thanks, Alice
Virginia Supportive Housing (VSH) has been selected to present a workshop entitled “Regional Solutions to Housing Challenges” at the 2009 Governor’s Housing Conference scheduled for Nov. 18 through 20, in Norfolk.
Just as no individual should have to go it alone in the fight against homelessness, neither should one particular jurisdiction. Homelessness does not end at a city boundary. It hurts the social capital and economic growth opportunities for an entire region.
Regional collaboration is not a new concept. Local jurisdictions often work together to achieve efficiency in the global marketplace. Regions also take advantage of geograph¬ic proximity to unite around common interests, such as transportation or work force development.
All localities benefit from a reduction in homelessness.
- Regional support is cost effective. If each city contributes to the development, one city does not carry the entire financial burden.
- The development improves the region’s quality of life by reducing homelessness, incorporating green building and contributing to revitalization efforts.
VSH believes that regional collaboration is the key to addressing homelessness at a time of local and state budget limitations.
In late 2006, South Hampton Roads became home to the first regional supportive housing residence of its kind in the nation with the opening of Gosnold Apartments in Norfolk. The localities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Portsmouth provided funding and rental subsidies. Developed and operated by Virginia Supportive Housing, Gosnold houses 60 formerly homeless individuals in studio apartments.
In 2008, Virginia Supportive Housing created Cloverleaf Apartments in Virginia Beach, the second regional permanent supportive housing development for homeless single adults in the region. This successful model is being repeated in Portsmouth with the development of South Bay Apartments, expected to open in the fall of 2010. As with Cloverleaf, the four cities of South Hampton Roads are providing funding and rental subsidies.
VSH is also building an addition to South Richmond Apartments located on Hull Street Road. The addition will provide twenty-one new studio apartments with comprehensive supportive services for formerly homeless single adults from the Richmond area with regional support from the City of Richmond, Henrico County, and Chesterfield County.
With permanent housing and support services, formerly homeless individuals improve their health, incomes and housing stability. Virginia Supportive Housing has a 90 percent success rate in assuring that its tenants and program participants do not return to homelessness.
Portions of this blog were originally published on November 5, 2008 in the Op-Ed section of The Virginian-Pilot.
Posted on September 21, 2009
I’m excited to announce that VSH Board Member and former tenant, Orville Banks is the winner of Homeward’s 2009 Steve Neathery Award for “successfully overcoming homelessness and helping others to make the same transition”.
The award will be presented at the Homeward’s 2009 Trends and Innovations Awards reception as part of this year’s Best Practices Conference on September 24th.
Having struggled with alcoholism for years, Orville became homeless in 2002. After spending 2 months at a shelter, he moved into VSH’s South Richmond Apartments in November of that year. With the help of the on-site support services staff, he began to address his alcohol dependence.
Having successfully dealt with his alcoholism and obtained employment, Orvillee moved out of South Richmond in 2004 to become the live-in Night Manager at New Clay House. New Clay is another VSH supportive apartment building for single adults who have been homeless.
Orvillee is passionate about giving back to his community. He serves on the VSH Board of Directors and has spoken at events, including Affordable Housing Awareness Week, to share his story with the public. He actively seeks opportunities to help others overcome addiction and homelessness, and routinely shares his story to inspire the tenants at New Clay to continue their efforts toward recovery.
Also, with the assistance of VSH’s Financial Foundations asset development program, Orvillee is working to achieve his financial management goals and is approaching the stage of pre-qualifying for a home loan.
Congratulations Orvillee! The award is well disserved.
Posted on August 5, 2009
Last week I got a call from a friend who has just become the latest victim of the economic crisis. The business she had worked for abruptly closed its doors leaving hundreds of people without jobs. With one out of ten people unemployed here in Richmond and in South Hampton Roads, it’s rough out there.
But my friend has a college degree, lots of marketable skills and a great work history. Since her husband works, she also won’t be hurt too severely if she has to collect unemployment for awhile.
It could be worse. What if she hadn’t graduated college or even high school? What if she lacked marketable skills and a solid work history? What if she had a history of homelessness, possibly a criminal background and bad or no credit? “Rough” wouldn’t begin to describe her chances of finding a job.
If you were an employer looking for employees, would you hire someone like my friend, or would you hire someone who has none of her favorable attributes? What is happening right now is that people who are homeless, or those who are stably housed but living on the edge, are getting pushed out of the very low end jobs they normally are able to find.
We are seeing this with individuals and families that live in Virginia Supportive Housing properties. A few VSH residents had steady jobs at restaurants, but business slowed down and they lost their jobs. Another resident’s time was cut from thirty-two hours a week to just six. She was told, “There are just too many people competing for work.”
We have many residents looking to work any type of job. If they are lucky enough to find something, it may be only a few hours a week; not even enough to pay our minimum rent of $50 per month, especially after paying bus fare to get there and back. Those “odd jobs” our folks used to find, such as detailing cars or doing minor home repairs, are no longer available. When is the last time you saw a line outside a day labor place?
Our goal is to keep people stably housed, which is very difficult these days. Our support services staff spends much of their time helping our residents scrape up enough money to pay rent by going to congregations or asking for help at crisis assistance programs like ACTS, Salvation Army, and the Homeless Prevention Program in Norfolk. We even have several residents giving blood every week to make ends meet!
We are hoping that the economy will turn around soon and that the Stimulus funding is distributed quickly. In the meantime, we continue to rely on the generosity of the public to help keep our residents stably housed. It’s rough out there, especially for those at the bottom.
