Fredericksburg EDA Presents Plan to 'Address Homelessness Crisis'
Plan seeks financial support from City.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Fredericksburg’s Economic Development Authority last week presented City Council with a three-pronged plan to “address the homeless crisis, both immediately and into the future.”
Key to this plan is the Jeremiah Community being developed by Micah Ministries, and the city transferring $2 million in federal pandemic relief funds to the EDA that was set aside for homelessness initiatives.
What is not clear is how the Continuum of Care — the federally-mandated local planning body that coordinates housing and services for homeless families and individuals — would be involved. Micah Ministries is just one of 55 organizations that make up CoC, and the organization says there were no formal or informal discussions between the CoC Board and the EDA prior to last week’s EDA presentation.
The EDA Plan
The EDA is requesting matching funds from the city to implement the first part of its plan, which is to rent rooms in a nearby motel for the local unhoused population.
The EDA is also asking that the city transfer $2 million in federal pandemic relief funds that Council set aside in August of 2021 for “homelessness initiatives” to the authority to “optimize interest income from those funds.”
These requests and an overview of the plan were included in a June 17 letter from EDA Chair Beth Black to City Manager Tim Baroody.
City Council members received the letter at a work session on June 25 and heard a brief presentation on the plan from Suzy Stone.
(Stone, along with Mitzi Brown, make up the EDA’s “homelessness subcommittee.”)
“As Beth Black has discussed with you, the EDA would like to be a partner in addressing the increased presence of unhoused people in downtown,” Stone said at the work session. “These are issues that greatly impact our businesses and economic viability.”
According to the letter, the EDA hopes to achieve the first step in its plan—renting rooms in a nearby motel—within a month.
The second step of the plan is to purchase a motel or apartment building to “house and provide services to the unhoused population for longer periods as they seek to rebuild their lives.”
The third step is to support the Jeremiah Community, a neighborhood being developed by Micah Ecumenical Ministries, which would provide permanent housing along with support structures for the population considered “chronically homeless.”
As defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, people who are “chronically homeless” have experienced homelessness for at least a year — or repeatedly over several years — while also struggling with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability.
‘Seeking buy-in and affirmation’
According to Black’s letter, the EDA — which Stone said last week “is not with limitless funds” — is “seeking buy-in and affirmation from major stakeholders to move forward with this comprehensive approach.”
The letter seeks “matching funds” from the city to “support the first prong,” but does not discuss how the $2 million in federal pandemic relief funds would be used.
At last week’s work session, Council member Jason Graham said he’d like the $2 million to be used for “something as permanent as possible” and Stone said, “That is the goal.”
Black said at the work session that the EDA has worked with Micah Ministries and come up with an estimate of $60,000 to rent hotel rooms for two months.
“So that’s why we’re asking for matching funds from the City to make that a longer period to keep our unhoused neighbors in a safe environment,” she said.
Regarding the $2 million, Black said, “We’re not saying we’re going to spend those funds. We can grow those funds in a way that you can’t.” She did not have details on how the EDA would invest or grow the funds.
Stone said the EDA and City Council would execute a memorandum of understanding governing the funds.
Meghann Cotter, executive director of Micah Ministries, said at the work session that the EDA’s approach is based on the success of efforts to house the homeless population in hotels and motels during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The thing we need to keep in mind is that there’s a lot of things we learned when we functionally ended street homeless for 2.5 years,” Cotter said. “This is not just picking people off the street and putting them in a hotel. We can do it well if we’re going to do it. I can tell you that it’s not cheap to do it well.”
CoC Not Part of Initial Discussions
Besides Micah, it’s not clear if other local organizations were part of developing the plan presented by the EDA last week.
Samantha Shoukas, housing and community health program director for the George Washington Regional Commission and lead staff of the Fredericksburg Regional Continuum of Care, told the Advance that there have been no formal or informal discussions between the CoC Board and the EDA prior to their presentation last week.
Micah is one of 55 organizations that make up the CoC — among the others are Empowerhouse, Loisann’s Hope House, Central Virginia Housing Coalition, Rappahannock United Way, and the Lloyd Moss Free Clinic.
Shoukas said that “as the planning and strategic body for homeless services for the region, we like to ensure that any plans that address homeless services correlate and align with the overall regional plan that’s already been adopted by our board.”
She said the CoC “has those relationships already built and has buy-in from providers who are doing this work.”
“Also, we really value regional efficiency and effectiveness and do whatever we can to de-duplicate efforts,” Shoukas said.
She said she has invited EDA members to attend a meeting of the CoC board, and that the board requested at its meeting last week that she extend another invitation.
“The CoC could be an asset,” Shoukas said. “The collaborative nature of the CoC can be a model of how a true response can be demonstrated. Businesses, law enforcement, providers — all of those people are already sitting at the table of the CoC. We just want as many people at the table as possible. We know a lot of people want to be involved and we are happy to find ways to make that involvement.”
Chris Allen, executive director of Fredericksburg Main Street, said he “has not been formally asked to join any conversation” with the EDA about homelessness.
“We would definitely be happy to be part of the conversation, especially because this issue affects our stakeholders downtown,” he said. “We definitely want to be advocating for business owners.”
Allen said he has received a request from the EDA to present at the next Main Street board meeting later this month.
Discussions Between EDA, Micah Ministries Plan Go Back Several Months
The EDA and Micah Ministries have been in conversation since at least earlier this year about the city’s unhoused population. In March, Black attended a Council work session to present on the EDA’s plans to help Micah find a new headquarters, as she said the organization has outgrown its current location on Princess Anne Street.
“We must work with Micah to find a new location” that provides space for workforce training, Black said. “The EDA may be asked to give a considerable financial pledge. We will help lead that effort.”
The City in 2022 signed a memorandum of understanding with Micah Ministries, Mary Washington Healthcare, and Virginia Supportive Housing, in “an effort to create permanent supportive housing options for chronically homeless regional populations.”
It’s not clear how the EDA’s plan relates to this memorandum.
The Advance sent several questions about the EDA’s plan to the homelessness subcommittee, including whether the request for matching funds from the City is included in or in addition to the $2 million, whether plans to help Micah relocate are part of the plan proposed last week, and whether the CoC has been part of the EDA’s discussions or will be going forward.
Black responded with one answer to the questions: “The EDA is excited to be part of a collaborative effort to address members of our unhoused community and how homelessness impacts our business community and business culture. The EDA is in its infancy stages of several ideas—none of which has a firm plan. We hope to join roundtable discussions with various groups about how we can help facilitate conversations and solutions. Our role is uniquely designed to help represent and support the entire Fredericksburg business community.”
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