120 Homeless Shelters in Va. To Share $18 Million in Grants

State Funds Will Prevent Many Closings, Officials Says

More than 120 homeless shelters across the state, including the largest facilities in Northern Virginia, will share $18 million in state grants over the next two years, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said recently.

The grants, which support operations and programs at the shelters, are administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

"Many of these shelters would have to fold if this money wasn't available," said Shea Hollifield, deputy director of the agency's housing division. "It's anywhere from 20 to 70 percent of their operating budgets."

Hollifield said the department has heard anecdotally from shelters throughout the state that "they're seeing a larger population coming in for services." She said the increase hasn't been quantified. In fiscal 2007, 19,874 households, or 32,407 people, were served in shelters for which the department provided funding, she said.

She said the amount of the grants, which have been awarded annually for several years, were staying "approximately the same" even though the agency has "seen some increase in needs."

Hollifield said the shelters that will receive the money are selected using several factors, including how many beds are available, the utilization rate of those beds and the level of support services the shelter provides beyond a place to stay.

"I wish we had more money, and we could try some new approaches to serving homeless people," Hollifield said. "This money basically gives them the bare bones for providing emergency shelter." She said if more funds were available, they could be used for "more transitional housing programs to move people out of the shelter situation."

But with state and federal budgets squeezed, Hollifield said, she doesn't anticipate an increase in funding.

The Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless, a Clarendon-based shelter that houses families for up to several months, is one of the top recipients of the grants. The shelter has been allocated more than $246,000 in grants next year.

John Woodward, program developer at the shelter, said the grants would provide about one-sixth of the shelter's annual $1.5 million budget.

"Without those funds, which support our core operation, we'd be laying off case managers and would have to take on far fewer families," Woodward said.

He said the group's Sullivan House, a Clarendon apartment building owned by Arlington County but managed by the coalition, is a 10-unit shelter where families stay for up to four months. About 55 families a year use the house, he said.

Woodward said the demographics of the shelter population in Arlington are changing. He said that the shelter is seeing more intact families -- mother, father, children -- seeking shelter, and that the children tend to be older, with more teenagers than preschoolers.

The number of immigrants seeking shelter is also rising. Shelters are also bracing for an influx of people needing help as homeowners in foreclosure are evicted, he said.

"We're expecting a completely different type of client, a whole new type of family that's never experienced homelessness before," Woodward said. "That's going to be a real issue for us."