Prince William allocates over a half-million dollars to house homeless during outbreak

Jillian Ellis April 30, 2020 at 7:19am

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors has accepted, budgeted, and appropriated $624,534 for emergency shelter services, telephone reassurance services, and food for the homeless in response to the novel coronavirus.

$324,534 came from state and federal grants, and $300,000 came from Affordable Housing Proffer funds.

The state and federal grants include $135,534 from the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) and $189,000 from the Virginia Homeless Solutions Program (VHSP).

The Virginia Office of Housing and Community Development has awarded VHSP grant funds for emergency sheltering services to assist Virginia localities with their coronavirus response. The funds need to be expended by June 30, 2020.
DARS awarded grant funds for homeless services, telephone reassurance services, food, and other services that will assist persons age 60 and older during this emergency.
In Fiscal Year 2020, the Prince William Area Continuum of Care was awarded $809,826 as part of the VHSP for prevention services, emergency shelter operations, rapid re-housing, and administration costs.

The Prince William Department of Social Services will use $189,000 of the funding from the VHSP grant to initiate the county’s Homeless Crisis Response Plan, which is based on a model from King County, Washington.

Courtney Tierney, director of the Prince William County Department of Social Services, presented the Homeless Crisis Plan to the Board during their April 14 meeting. Part of the $100,000 federal grant will be used to provide temporary sheltering in area hotel and motel rooms for the homeless who meet the following criteria:

Those who have tested positive for the coronavirus and need to be isolated, but not hospitalized
Those who have been exposed to the coronavirus and need to be quarantined
Those who have underlying health conditions that place them at high risk for the virus, or are 60 years and older

County staff recommends that hotel and motel rooms be prioritized for persons who are particularly vulnerable for complications due to the coronavirus including unsheltered persons, older adults, and those with an existing medical condition.

If existing shelter space is unavailable or not appropriate, hotel or motel rooms may be used to provide overflow temporary shelter, separation (for symptomatic people or the particularly vulnerable), or isolation (for confirmed cases).

County staff informed the Board on April 14 that they were negotiating with area hotels to book rooms.

An additional $9,000 will be given to local homeless service providers who are part of the county’s Homeless Crisis Response Plan. These providers include Action in Community Through Service (ACTS), Northern Virginia Family Services, and the Streetlight Community Outreach Ministry.

The Agency on Aging will use the remaining $25,534 for food or other services that will assist persons age 60 and older during the emergency. ACTS will receive $10,000 of the DARS grant reward for the telephone reassurance program, SeniorLink.

ACTS is an independent, private, nonprofit organization serving the residents of the Greater Prince William Area, including the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

Several county departments are working together on the Homeless Crisis Response Plan

The Prince William area team includes Prince William County’s Human Services, Technology, Finance, Economic Development, Police, Parks, Public Works, and the Emergency Operations Center.

Many groups are also working together to address hotel/motel lodging, transportation, food, security, laundry, pets, storage, cleaning, intake, and case management. These groups include Novant and Sentara Hospitals’ Case Managers and Discharge Nurse Supervisors, Prince William Health District, nonprofits, Manassas, Manassas Park Department of Social Services, PRTC, and George Mason University’s MAP Clinic.

How will the funds from Affordable Housing Proffers be used?

A total of $300,000 from Affordable Housing Proffers will be used to provide housing for the homeless for their safety and for the safety of the community, said Tierney.

The money is for one-time use and requires no local tax support or matching, Tierney said. Tierney told the Board that approximately 40% of the homeless will need help with social distancing and have underlying conditions. Additionally, 40% will need direct help as a result of the coronavirus.

On September 20, 2011, the Board of County Supervisors approved a resolution allowing funds from Affordable Housing Proffers to be used for emergency sheltering of those in need of housing assistance during an emergency.

Because it is unknown when the coronavirus pandemic will be over, for administrative grant closeout procedures, any unspent state, federal, and affordable housing proffer funds should be carried over into the Fiscal Year 2021.

County staff have developed a budget for the Homeless Crisis Plan and are working on pinning down details in regards to teams and securing existing contracts.

Prince William County currently has 1,527 confirmed cases, 159 hospitalized, and 22 deaths from the COVID-19 disease as of April 29.