Helping End Homelessness: Housing First Grants

Housing First looks to alter the traditional practice of moving homeless people into crowded

James Lewis is helped by Fatima Tomlin of JCOC.

shelters and transitional housing before locating permanent housing.

Since 2009, an effort in southeastern Virginia and the rest of the United States has focused on making “homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring,” stays Suzanne Puryear, president of The Planning Council and a Hampton Roads Community Foundation board member.

The shift benefits both clients and shelters. Quickly securing permanent housing and providing services to help clients settle into stable lives, frees space in homeless shelters for emergency cases and lets agencies help more people. The average stay in Judeo- Christian OutreachCenter’s shelter in Virginia Beach has dropped from six months to 66 days, says Todd A.J. Walker, executive director of JCOC. This allows the nonprofit to serve 100 more people a year.

Samaritan House reports similar trends at its Virginia Beach family shelter, which like the JCOC has received Hampton Roads Community Foundation grants to help  implement Housing First strategies.

“Our clients are moving out of our shelters in 40 days now instead of 60. It’s about 30 percent less expensive for us,” says Angela Kellam, Samaritan House executive director.

Long-term success has improved with 86 percent of clients placed in permanent housing “still doing well after 24 months.” Community foundation funding has helped nonprofits leverage other resources. Samaritan House recently parlayed a $175,000 foundation grant into six national and state awards totaling $450,000, Kellam says.

Hampton Road Community Foundation grants have also helped boost the region’s supply of low-rent housing. Virginia Supportive Housing has built five studio apartment complexes in Hampton Roads that provide homes for formerly homeless citizens. The Richmond-based nonprofit is planning a sixth complex in the region.

“We couldn’t have done it without the foundation,” says Allison Bogdanovic, executive director. “We never had a partner with such a commitment to our work.”

“In all aspects, the foundation has been a critical player,” observes Andrew M. Friedman, director of Virginia Beach’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation. A foundation grant paid for a 2013 Virginia Beach housing crisis response study that led to positive changes. James Lewis, a former Judeo Christian Outreach Center client, knows personally the results of such efforts. The formerly homeless man now lives in a comfortable home and says: “The oars are there for me, and there are no holes in the boat,” he says. “Now I can get across the river.”

Doing Good: Judeo-Christian Outreach Center Ends Homelessness for James W. Lewis

In April 2014 James W. Lewis moved into permanent housing in Chesapeake, Virginia and became the

James Lewis is happy in his new home.

inaugural Housing First client of the Virginia Beach-based Judeo-Christian Outreach Center. His new home came with services designed to help him remain there.

Two years later Lewis calls his rescue from homelessness like climbing into “a boat that doesn’t have holes in it. It sits me up a little taller. I feel a little sturdier to push forward.” 

Lewis, 57, is disabled by blood clots and chronic back problems. He is a former carnival worker who spent 10 years bouncing between Hampton Roads homeless shelters and sleeping outdoors. 

JCOC’s Housing First program, largely funded by Hampton Roads Community Foundation donors, alters the traditional practice of moving homeless people into crowded shelters and transitional housing while requiring them to take courses and receive counseling before getting permanent housing.

A federally mandated shift to “Housing First in 2009 was a big culture change for us,” says Todd A.J. Walker, JCOC executive director. “Other services are still important, but housing is the biggest. We now attack that animal at the beginning. We do other assessments and services once someone’s in a stable [housing] situation.” 

Lewis calls Fatima Tomlin 'superwoman.'

Fatima Tomlin, a JCOC case manager, helped Lewis find his new home, adopt good budgeting habits and cover initial costs. Lewis now lives in an immaculate, furnished home in a neighborhood near a supermarket and is happy to be there. 

JCOC is among 10 Hampton Roads nonprofits receiving more than $4.9 million in grants provided by Hampton Roads Community Foundation donors to help end homelessness in southeastern Virginia.

Giving Back: Jane & Bill Charters Help Vulnerable Citizens

In honor of Valentine's Day coming up this weekend we salute the late Jane and Bill Charters, a

Jane & Bill Charters loved their community.

Norfolk, Virginia couple who loved each other and their community. The Charters continue to shower some of the region's most vulnerable citizens with opportunities for better lives.

Thanks to Jane's estate planning, she and Bill have provided more than $3.7 million in grants to 40 organizations in southeastern Virginia since her death in 2004. (Bill died before her 22 years earlier.)

All grant recipients are Hampton Roads nonprofits that daily help struggling citizens keep roofs over their heads and food on the table while also having access to health care and chances to improve their lives. 

The Charters' work is done quietly in partnership with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation where Jane left a generous $6 million bequest to start the William A. and Jane M. Charters Fund. She wanted her field-of-interest fund to be for basic human needs such as shelter, food, medical care and clothing.

In 2015 alone the Charters Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation has helped

• Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia provide financial and housing counseling to help get clients out of debt and on the road to stability.
• Goodwill Industries of Central Virginia implement job training programs for 150 unemployed or under-employed people. 
• HER Shelter start a program to help domestic abuse victims immediately find a safe place to go.
• Judeo-Christian Outreach Center implement a housing stabilization program for formerly homeless citizens. 
• Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia expand services to help citizens resolve legal issues that are barriers to housing and employment.
• Park Place Health & Dental Center expand the hours a dentist is on duty to treat patients with dental problems and no health insurance.
• PIN Ministry provide medical and dental care for the homeless.
• Samaritan House, Genevieve Shelter, HER Shelter and the YWCA of South Hampton Roads collaborate to start a regional hotline that homeless citizens can call to connect with needed services.
• Virginia Supportive Housing provide services for formerly homeless residents of the new Crescent Square apartments in Virginia Beach. 
• Volunteers of America Chesapeake hire a coordinator to find permanent housing for formerly homeless residents. 

Who were the Charters? Jane was a retired federal employee who worked as an administrative assistant with the Navy and also sang professionally. Bill started work in a bank and went on to co-found Investment Corp. of Norfolk in 1927, which introduced the region to the idea of home mortgages. He went on to lead more than 20 real estate companies. 

Both Jane and Bill Charters quietly and generously supported their community during their lifetimes. And, they will always continue to do that through their permanent fund at their community foundation.  

 (The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $230 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you.)