Testimony before the Arlington County Board, Dec. 13, 2011
Year-Round Emergency Shelter

Good evening. My name is Stephen Davis, and I have lived in Arlington County for over 30 years. I’m here tonight to speak on behalf of the Arlington Green Party in support of a year-round, low-barrier emergency shelter to be established as soon as possible.

As this Board has heard on numerous occasions, homelessness in Arlington continues to be a chronic, challenging issue.

On November 22 the County Manager announced a proposed plan whereby the County would acquire an office building at 14th Street North for the purpose of providing a year-round emergency shelter for Arlington’s homeless population as well as to provide added office space for County staff.

We support this proposal as a necessary but not fully sufficient measure to address homelessness in Arlington. First, as has been reported, acquisition of the proposed facility requires clearance of several legal and administrative hurdles to become a reality. If even one of these obstacles proves to be fatal, then Arlington’s homeless folks are back to square one or, in their situation, back on the streets. Therefore, we would support development of parallel, simultaneous plans and initiatives for a year-round shelter in case the nascent 14th Street North proposal does not bear fruit.

Second, our understanding is that the County Manager’s proposal may take an extended period to be implemented, by some accounts early 2013 at the earliest. We believe that Arlington’s homeless people should not have to wait that long to obtain the shelter they so desperately need. Until the 14th Street North shelter becomes available we believe that a year-round interim shelter facility should be located and developed so that homeless people will not be required to “shelter in place” when tropical rains and wind invariably come during the summer season.

Third as we’ve noted in the past, apart from the humane obligation of immediately addressing this issue, a year round shelter provides a stable environment for delivery of the social services the homeless require to rise out of homelessness.

We again ask that you recognize the critical need for a permanent, adequately-funded, year-round emergency shelter and that you commit an additional $300,000 to the establishment of this year around, low-barrier shelter in the fy2012 budget.

Note–the County Board voted unanimously at the end of the public hearing to approve the $25 million purchase of the office building in the courthouse area that will host the year round shelter, together with the necessary offices for homeless counselors and staff to work directly with homeless people. The building will host county employees on most of the floors of the building with the first two floors reserved for the future shelter.

Comments of Arlington Green Party candidate for county board Audrey Clement before the Arlington County Board, Sept. 17, 2011, on behalf of John Reeder, chair, Arlington Greens

Homeless During a Hurricane
On the Friday afternoon before Hurricane Irene, my daughter encountered a homeless man in a wheelchair outside the Ballston Metro station and asked him where he was going to spend the storm. He said he didn’t know. When I picked her up, she asked me for the location of the Arlington homeless shelter. I knew the ASPAN winter shelter was closed, but tried to dial its number only to learn there is no listing for ASPAN or an emergency shelter. I told the homeless person to call the Arlington police and hope that he ultimately found shelter.

Later the compassionate minister Reverend Cobb of the Arlington Central United Methodist Church opened the church community hall to shelter 51 homeless persons during the hurricane with help from ASPAN. Arlington Sheriff Beth Arthur opened the lobby of the jail to house about 5 persons that weekend, but not too many homeless people go voluntarily to jail.

Is this the best Arlington County can do to shelter homeless people who live on our streets April through October? Is this “the Arlington Way” that promotes itself as a “world class community?” You, the County Board, have been shamefully negligent in failing to fund and authorize the operation of a year round low-barrier shelter for homeless persons. It is immoral, illogical, cruel, and ultimately more costly than having a professional year round shelter.

Arlington needs a year round homeless shelter so that whenever a weather emergency occurs at anytime of the year–a hurricane in August or a snowstorm in February—these poor souls have a place to go. Moreover, with a year-round shelter, Arlington residents will be able to direct the homeless to a place where they will receive shelter, counseling, and a hot meal.

I applaud Pastor Cobb and Beth Arthur for their last minute actions. But these would have been unneeded if you had not turned your backs on the homeless living on our streets.

Arlington County Government refuses to operate a year round homeless shelter for adult men and women, instead sticking to the outdated concept that these homeless folks only need shelter during November to March 31. The 75 people sheltered in the winter shelter are expected to sleep in Arlington parks, in parking garages, along 4 Mile Run, and in their cars during April through October. This practice goes against all modern recommendations for dealing with homeless persons and is inhumane.

The Arlington County manager presented her budget proposal to the County Board in February 2011 and it contained no additional funds to operate the adult, low barrier shelter throughout the year. The county now spends $1.6 million for its various homeless shelters; it would cost about $300,000 more to operate the additional 8 months.

Bear in mind that when the shelter closes, some clients end up in the county jail or in the hospital at public expense. It cost over $100 per night per jail inmate versus about $15 per night for the shelter. The county is being penny wise and pound foolish. Moreover, how are homeless persons going to receive job counseling and assistance if no one can find them easily? The shelter is operated by an award-winning nonprofit, ASPAN (http://www.a-span.org/ews.html).<

I is preposterous that the County Government cannot find $300,000 to take care of homeless men and women who need a hand up to getting their lives together and becoming self reliant and tax paying members of the community. What kind of “world class” community is Arlington? Third-world class, perhaps.

Remarks of Steve Davis at Department of Human Services/Community Services Board meeting on Monday, September 13.

Good evening. My name is Stephen Davis, and I have lived in Arlington County for 33 years. I’m here today to speak on behalf of the Arlington Green Party in support of a year-round emergency shelter to be established as quickly as possible.

As this Board well knows, homelessness in Arlington has been a long-term and difficult issue. To address this problem, in 2006, the County developed a 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Arlington County, Virginia. While the Plan has many laudable aspects, including a multifaceted approach to preventing and dealing with homelessness, in several respects, it also falls short.

The most glaring of the Plan’s deficiencies is the absence of a provision for a year-round emergency shelter in its 5-Year Action Plan. This shortcoming has been reflected in the County Board’s failure to provide funding to keep the current shelter open on a year-round basis. This decision has resulted in higher budget priorities for commendable activities such as funding the arts and parks and recreation, but has left the homeless literally and figuratively out in the cold.

Despite the fact that Arlington is one of the wealthiest, best educated counties in the nation, and despite the fact that all of our neighboring counties and jurisdictions maintain and support year-round shelters for their most vulnerable and indigent populations, the County has failed to close this most egregious hole in the safety net for its most needy and at-risk citizens even though the number of homeless persons in our community has been increasing in spite of the best intentions of the county’s plan to end homelessness.

The County Manager has indicated that budgeting for a permanent year-round shelter may “possibly” occur in FY 2012. We believe that the homeless of Arlington should not have to wait any longer than necessary, nor should they have to rely on vague possibilities for obtaining year-round shelter they so desperately need. We recommend that funding for a year-round shelter should begin in April 2011.

Apart from the humane necessity of taking immediate action to address this issue, there are also practical reasons for doing so. First, the shelter provides not simply a roof over one’s head and a bed, it also provides a stable environment and residence for the homeless where they can gain access to the social services and support they need to escape homelessness. When the seasonal access to the County’s emergency shelter ends, the shelter residents are forced to scatter to the four winds, and effective support for the homeless ends. Only when the season changes does the shelter re-open and the homeless individual must then become re-integrated into the social service network thus losing valuable time and the utilization of existing social services to end his or her homelessness.

What can and should this Board do? While you are not the final decision-makers in determining when and if a permanent, year-round shelter will be funded and developed, you are seen as an effective sounding board for the community’s views and sentiment, and the County Board places great weight on your recommendations and advice.

We therefore urge you to advise the County Board of the critical need for a permanent, adequately-funded, year-round emergency shelter and that establishing this shelter should be given the highest priority in its budgetary decisions.