Community Corner

100,000 Homes Registry Week Finds Nearly 500 Live Outdoors

Last week's count of Fairfax County homeless searched the woods to find those who live in encampments. The information will be used to track them — and hopefully get them into homes.

Fairfax County officials and volunteers counted 462 homeless living outdoors during the recently completed Registry Week.

More than 200 volunteers scoured the woods and other hidden areas of the county where homeless people live last week in order to count, photograph, and get names and histories.

Reston Interfaith CEO Kerrie Wilson said she saw great honesty from those living outdoors.

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"I was struck by the differences in talking with someone in their 'home' – in their space versus when we are in shelter and other settings where we must set the rules," she said at a Registry Week media event on Monday. "Survey teams and clients were respectful of one another. There was a sense of pride from those homeless interviewed when they showed volunteers their campsites."

Registry Week was part of the national 100,000 Homes Campaign. Agencies taking part included FACETSFairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness,New Hope HousingPathway Homes, Reston Interfaith, and Volunteers of America Chesapeake.

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The registry will be used in the future to track homeless individuals and their progress in finding permanent housing, Registry Week officials said.

Organizers, along with Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova and other Board of Supervisors members, released key findings on Monday. Among them:

  • Nearly a quarter were between 18-34 years old
  • The largest number of interviewees (151) were found in the Route 1 corridor
  • More than three-quarters of interviewees were male
  • “Unable to pay rent/utilities” and “job loss” were by far the most cited reasons for homelessness
  • 10 percent were veterans
  • Nearly half were employed
  • 40 percent had a physical disability. 

"We learned that chronic homelessness comes in many forms for many reasons and each story is unique and each solution is unique but that all solutions require stable affordable housing and supports and people who care," said Pam Michell, Executive Director of New Hope Housing.

Fairfax County has about 2,900 homeless — of which about 300 are chronically homeless, says Dean Klein from the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness.


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