Homelessness rising in area
Number of area homeless up from last year, especially children
Thursday, February 16, 2006
By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO
The (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star
The Fredericksburg area's homeless population has
increased from last year, including a rise in the number of
homeless children--trends that authorities predict will
continue.
During a Jan. 25 point-in-time homeless count, mandated each
year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
local officials and community activists counted 447 homeless
people--118 adults and 329 children.
These numbers include the city of Fredericksburg and
Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George and Caroline counties.
In 2005, 407 homeless people lived in the Fredericksburg
area--124 adults and 283 children.
Erik Nelson, Fredericksburg's senior planner and a member of
the Fredericksburg Regional Continuum of Care Task Force on
homelessness, attributes the increase to the region's
population growth and high housing costs.
"Families are unable to find places to live,"
Nelson said. "As much as we talk about affordable
housing, no one wants to build it."
The number of homeless people dropped from 2004 to 2005, when
HUD changed its homelessness guidelines last year to exclude
adults living in motels.
However, children living in motels are counted as homeless.
The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act of 2001
defines homeless children and guarantees them equal access to
public education, said Lee Jones, a spokesman for HUD's
Richmond office.
The act also requires public schools to keep track of the
number of enrolled homeless students.
Nelson predicts that the local homeless population will
continue to increase.
According to the 2000 census, nearly 13,000
Fredericksburg-area residents--about 5 percent of the
population--lived below that year's federal poverty level of
$17,050 for a family of four. The 2006 federal poverty line
is $20,000 for a family of four.
"There's a large number of people who can become
homeless very quickly," Nelson said.
Stafford County reported 160 homeless people--the largest
number, with 7 adults and 153 children. Fredericksburg
reported 159 homeless people, including 97 adults and 62
children.
Both Fredericksburg and Stafford have homeless shelters and
transitional housing facilities, such as the Thurman Brisben
Center, Hope House and the Rappahannock Council on Domestic
Violence.
Spotsylvania County reported 38 people, all children. Nelson
said there probably are homeless adults living in
Spotsylvania, but county officials might have missed them
because of a lack of resources.
King George County reported 35 people--nine adults and 26
children. Caroline County reported 55 people, including five
adults and 50 children.
Those numbers include both sheltered and unsheltered homeless
people--in motels, shelters and campsites.
Transitional housing facilities conducted in-house
interviews, and schools were required to report the number of
homeless children enrolled.
At night, law enforcement officials in each locality counted
homeless people living in tents and under bridges.
Fredericksburg Councilman Matt Kelly and police Officer
Darius Merritt combed through woods and along the riverbank
in the city. They looked under the Chatham and Falmouth
bridges, behind the former regional jail site and in the
restrooms at Old Mill Park.
Merritt had never been on the point-in-time count, which
began in 2003. But Merritt, who works overnight shifts, knows
many of the city's homeless by name and where they live.
Count organizers also are familiar with the area's homeless
population.
"You do this long enough, you know where to look,"
Nelson said.
Kelly and Merritt found a homeless couple in the woods at the
end of Gunnery Road. They came across a few other campsites,
but no people.
That night, 20 homeless people checked into Micah Ecumenical
Ministry's cold-night shelter at the Bragg Hill Family Life
Center.
The cold-night shelter is for the region's chronic homeless,
those who can't check into the Thurman Brisben Center because
of substance abuse, mental illness or other reasons.
Former homeless campsites behind the former regional jail and
along Fall Hill Avenue have been replaced as those areas are
redeveloped.
"These guys are versatile if nothing else," Nelson
said. "Development does take out some camps, but they
just move elsewhere."
To reach NATASHA ALTAMIRANO:540/368-5036
Email: naltamirano@freelancestar.com