Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Organizations that assist the homeless have taken notice of the increasing importance of providing access to technology.
Technology is no longer a luxury item, but a necessity for job searching, staying connected and living — particularly for those living on the streets. To Gerald Davis, a homeless man who hopes to get his own apartment, the disability insurance dollars he spends on a $50-a-month flip phone allows him to talk with his daughter and helps him stay in contact with the Arlington County Department of Human Services. “I’m not crazy about the telephone, but it’s a necessary evil,” said Davis, who has been staying at the Arlington County Emergency Winter Shelter. “If (friends) happen to come up with a job lead for me, they’ll let me know.” To men and women living on the streets, access to a computer or phone can be the key factor in gaining a job or…
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Patch is happy to consider opinion articles for publication. We reserve the right to edit for accuracy, clarity and brevity.
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Tuesday, March 19
The following opinion column was submitted to Patch this weekend by Ken Robinson, president of the Woodbury Heights Condominium Association, regarding Arlington County's planned year-round homeless service center. Links added by Patch. It’s too bad Arlington undertook this expensive project without a lot of consideration of the alternatives. The county, for example, could have issued a request for quotations to provide homeless services — and contracted with one of the proven, national shelter operations such as the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, or Volunteers of America. Arlington would not have needed to buy and build a shelter and kit-out offices for its preferred vendor, A-SPAN. Arlington could have rehabilitated the existing …
Monday, March 18, 2013
County will establish a neighborhood advisory council and designate a homeless service center liaison in an effort to minimize its impact on the surrounding community.
A year-round homeless service center on two floors of the seven-story office building at 2020 14th St. N. in the Courthouse community has received final approval from the Arlington County Board. For advocates of ending homelessness, it was a victory a long time in the making. It advances Arlington's goal of providing the services needed to move more of the area's homeless into permanent housing. And it concentrates those services in a single place that's open all year as opposed to the current emergency winter shelter, about a block away, that's open only during the winter. For some residents of Woodbury Heights, the condominium building next door to the planned center, it was the latest move by Arlington County to balance the good of the …
Friday, March 8, 2013
The Arlington County Board will vote on whether to allow a year-round homeless service center in Courthouse later this month.
Residents of the Woodbury Heights condominiums in the Courthouse community began mobilizing in November 2011 to oppose Arlington County's plan to acquire a seven-story office building and convert two floors to a year-round homeless service center. They showed up at meeting after meeting, voicing concerns over security and, in some cases, the potential effect on their property values. Elected officials assured them that all they were doing at that point was voting on whether to pursue the acquisition of the Thomas Building at 2020 14th St. N. They would have time to voice their concerns about the homeless center during a permitting process later on. They recall the county saying it looked forward to public discussion — after all, that's …
The Arlington County Board will take up the matter later this month.
Advocates of ending homelessness in Arlington County showed their support for a new year-round homeless service center in the Courthouse community Thursday night. Frustrated residents who live nearby the proposed center reiterated their concerns about safety and, in some cases, property values. And the Arlington Planning Commission wondered what, exactly, its role was supposed to be. "This is an awkward situation," said Commissioner Peter Fallon. "Reflecting on this, I think it would be a lot easier if we just had to make recommendation on a use permit up or down, and maybe set some conditions." But that wasn't the case. [More: Residents, County Still at Odds as Permitting Process Begins for Homeless Center] Arlington County has applied, …
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Washington-based nonprofit Gifts for the Homeless dropped off supplies Tuesday, just in time for the expected winter storm.
Arlington's homeless might not be as cold during the so-called snowquester thanks to a major donation Tuesday from a Washington-area charity. A-SPAN, the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network, received 26 boxes of supplies on Tuesday from Gifts for the Homeless — boxes full of winter coats, fleeces, blankets, gloves and lots of thermal underwear. "We're going to be distributing it as much as we can today and tomorrow and while it's still winter," said Jan-Michael Sacharko, A-SPAN's director of development. Two UPS trucks pulled up to the county's emergency winter shelter in the Courthouse neighborhood Tuesday afternoon. The stacks of boxes they left are about as tall as Sacharko, who clocks in at 6 feet, 4 inches tall. Washington-…
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Snapshot of area homelessness has decreased over the past three years.
A team of about 30 volunteers combed the streets and woods of Arlington on Wednesday to survey the county's homeless population. It's a census of sorts, conducted annually by the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network, or A-SPAN, and other agencies that serve the homeless. The Point-in-Time Count, as it is called, provides a snapshot of the area's homeless population on a single day. "For us, it's like a thermometer," said Anita Friedman, Arlington County's economic independence division chief. The 2012 Point-in-Time Count showed 451 homeless people in Arlington County — a 14 percent decrease over the past three years. The volunteers visited Metro stations, malls, bridges and wooded areas, targeting hotspots of homeless activity, …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Arlington County will host its final community meeting in January.
Arlington County staff this week met with neighbors of the recently acquired building at 2020 14th St. N., two floors of which will be converted to a year-round homeless service center. The residents' initial furor seems to have started to give way at exasperation. After spending nearly three hours hearing about the county's plans and giving their input earlier this month, several residents said Tuesday they were frustrated at what they perceived as the county continuing to ignore their concerns. "I'm just sick of people trying to make us feel bad," said January Holt, a resident of the Woodbury Heights condominium building adjacent to the county's new office and homeless service center building. "And I'm tired of going to these meetings." …
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2020 14th St N, Arlington, VA
Thomas Building; Future site of year-round homeless center
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Thursday, December 6, 2012
Arlington County acquired the Thomas Building last month under threat of condemnation.
Arlington County held the first in a series of public input meetings Wednesday night on the design of the planned year-round homeless service center for the Courthouse community. By coincidence or by design, the evening doubled as a first attempt to broker peace between the county government and people in the neighborhood who feel they've been ignored, their concerns neglected. In some ways, it was a victory for the county that no one threw their hands up in the air and left, frustrated. Kurt Larrick, the communications manager for the county's Department of Human Services, said he was "encouraged" to see "the Hatfields and the McCoys" sitting at the same table, talking through their concerns. "It's not lip service," he said. "It's genuine…
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Ernie Maas, 61, has been homeless in Arlington County for at least the past two years.
A 61-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who has survived on the streets of Arlington for at least the past two years has a lot to be thankful for today. With the help of the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network and others, Ernie Maas now has a home. "It's great to know there are so many good people in the world," Maas said in his new bedroom Wednesday. "Since I served my country, I feel good about that — I was serving for good people." Volunteers and staff with A-SPAN and others had just finished moving in donated furniture and other items, along with a few bags of clothes and personal effects Maas had managed to collect and keep with him over the years — an old high school yearbook and boot camp book among them, he said. Maas said he'd …
GreaterClarendon
1:53 pm on Thursday, December 20, 2012
Please don't bring logic and common sense to this issue. I want to feel good about what I've done to help disadvantaged people, while I live far away from the shelter. more ›